Topic summary
Joseon era
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Joseon.
End of the dynasty
The Sino-Japanese soon escalated into a war (1894–1895) between Japan and the Qing Empire, fought largely in Korea. Gojong had made a deal with Japan, partially out of a distrust of the queen's support for open trade policies toward Western civilizations and China. He ended up preempting a specific disadvantageous, exclusive negotiation with Japan previous to the queen's decision, which was later used as a political premise for Japan to wage military action. Scholars, particularly during the Joseon era, were touted for expressing allegiance to the king. The empress had also attempted to counter Japanese interference in Korea and was considering turning to the Russian Empire and to China for support.