Empress Myeongseong or Empress Myungsung (명성황후 민씨; 17 November 1851 – 8 October 1895), informally known as Empress Min, was the official wife of Gojong, the 26th king of Joseon and the first emperor of the Korean Empire. She was posthumously called Myeongseong, the Great Empress (Korean: 명성태황후; Hanja: 明成太皇后).
Empress Myeongseong was considered an obstacle by the government of Meiji Japan (明治政府) to its overseas expansion. However, she took a harsher stand against Japanese influence after the Heungseon Daewongun's failed rebellions that were intended to remove her from the political arena.After Japan's victory in the First Sino-Japanese War, Joseon Korea came under the Japanese sphere of influence. The empress advocated stronger ties between Korea and Russia in an attempt to block Japanese influence in Korea. 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 Major Woo Beom-seon, then allowed a group of former samurai, specifically recruited for this purpose, to infiltrate and assassinate the empress in the palace, under orders from Miura Gorō. The empress's assassination sparked international outrage.Domestically, the assassination prompted anti-Japanese sentiment in Korea with the "Short Hair Act Order" (Korean: 단발령; Hanja: 斷髮令; RR: danballyeong), facilitating the creation of the Eulmi Righteous Army and protests nationwide. Following the empress's assassination, Emperor 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 under 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 has been renewed interest in Empress Myeongseong due to popular novels, a film, a TV drama and a musical based on her life story.
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