Empress Myeongseong (19 October 1851 – 8 October 1895), known informally as Queen Min, was the first official wife of Gojong of Korea, the twenty-sixth king of Joseon and the first emperor of the Korean Empire.

The government of Meiji Japan considered Queen Min an obstacle to its overseas expansion. Efforts to remove her from the political arena, orchestrated through failed rebellions prompted by the father of King Gojong, the Heungseon Daewongun (an influential regent working with the Japanese), compelled her to take a harsher stand against Japanese influence.

After Japan's victory in the First Sino-Japanese War, Queen Min advocated stronger ties between Korea and Russia in an attempt to block Japanese influence in Korea, which was represented by the Daewongun. Miura Gorō, the Japanese Minister to Korea at that time and a retired army lieutenant-general, backed the faction headed by the Daewongun, whom he considered to be more sympathetic to Japanese interests.

In the early morning of 8 October 1895, the Hullyeondae Regiment, loyal to the Daewongun, attacked the Gyeongbokgung, overpowering its Royal Guards. Hullyeondae officers, led by Lieutenant Colonel Woo Beomseon, an ardent supporter of the Daewongun, then allowed a group of Japanese ronins, specifically recruited for this purpose to infiltrate the palace, allegedly under orders from Miura. Upon entering the Queen's quarters (Okhoru Pavilion), the assassins "killed three court [women] suspected of being the queen. When they confirmed that one of them was Min, they burned the corpse in a pine forest in front of the Okhoru Pavilion, and then dispersed the ashes." She was 43 years old.

The assassination of Queen Min ignited outrage among other foreign powers. To appease growing international criticism, the Japanese government "recalled Miura and placed him under a staged trial at the Hiroshima District Court, while the military personnel involved were tried at a military court. All were given the verdict of not guilty on the grounds of insufficient evidence."

However, the assassination prompted anti-Japanese sentiment in Korea with the "Short Hair Act Order" (단발령, 斷髮令), and some Koreans created the Eulmi Righteous Army and actively set up protests nationwide. Following the queen's assassination, King Gojong and the crown prince (later Emperor Sunjong of Korea) fled to the Russian legation in 1896. This led to the general repeal of the Gabo Reform, which was controlled by Japanese influence. In October 1897, King Gojong returned to Gyeongungung (modern-day Deoksugung). There, he proclaimed the founding of the Korean Empire.

...
Wikipedia