Empress Myeongseong

Empress Myeongseong (19 October 1851 – 8 October 1895), also known as Queen Min, was the first official wife of King Gojong, the twenty-sixth king of the Joseon dynasty of Korea. In 1902 she received the posthumous name Hyoja Wonseong Jeonghwa Hapcheon Honggong Seongdeok Myeongseong Taehwanghu (Korean Hangul: 효자원성정화합천홍공성덕명성태황후, Hanja: 孝慈元聖正化合天洪功誠德明成太皇后), often abbreviated as Myeongseong Hwanghu (Hangul: 명성황후, Hanja: 明成皇后), meaning Empress Myeongseong.

The Japanese considered her an obstacle to their overseas expansion. Efforts to remove her from the political arena, orchestrated through failed rebellions at times prompted by the father of King Gojong, Heungseon Daewongun (the powerful regent who opposed any change in Korea's isolation and was at times accused of working with the Japanese), compelled the Empress to take a strong 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 counter Japanese influence in Korea. Miura Gorō, the Japanese Minister to Korea at that time and a retired army lieutenant-general, supported the faction headed by the Daewongun, whom he considered to be more sympathetic to Japanese interests.

In the early morning of 8 October 1895, sword-bearing assassins, allegedly under orders from Miura Gorō, entered Gyeongbok Palace. Upon entering the Queen's Quarters (Okhoru Pavilion), the assassins "killed three court suspected of being Empress Myeongseong. When they confirmed that one of them was the Empress, 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 the Korean Empress 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 promoted anti-Japanese sentiments in Korea with "Short Hair Act Order" (단발령, 斷髮令), and some Koreans created the Eulmi righteous army and actively set up protests nationwide. After assassination, King Gojong and the crown prince (later Emperor Sunjong) fled for refuge to the Russian legation in 1896, this led to the general repeal of the Gabo Reforms, which were thought to be the result of Japanese influence. In October 1897, King Gojong returned to Gyeongungung (modern-day Deoksugung). There, he proclaimed the founding of the Korean Empire.

In South Korea, there is renewed interest in her life because of recent novels, a TV drama series, a feature length movie,