ABSTRACT
After the restoration of the imperial power in Japan, there was, as we have also seen, a strong agitation for war with Korea. The government was not in favour of it, considering the country not yet sufficiently prepared to risk the chances of so hazardous a foreign enterprise. But the Korean question was soon to become again acute. For the government of Korea which refused to open their ports to foreigners, and fired at French and American men of war, were too proud to receive a Japanese embassy, and made great encroachments on Japan, In 1895 a Japanese man of war sailed past the Korean island of Kōka, and was fired at from the battery of the island. An attack followed and the Japanese took the island. The success of the Japanese arms worked wonders. The Korean government contented themselves with entering into diplomatic relations with Japan, and concluding a commercial treaty by which the port of Fusan, and later those of Tschemulpo and Gensan, were open to Japan. The United States and the European governments made similar treaties with Korea.
