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The 'Ganghwa Island incident' (Japanese: 江華島事件, Korean: 운요호 사건 "Unyo-ho sageon" meaning "Unyo incident") was an armed encounter between the Joseon Dynasty (Yi Dynasty, Korea) and Japan which occurred in the vicinity of Ganghwa Island on September, 20 1875.

Contents

Background

The incident

See also

Background

In the second half of the 19th century, Korea was the scene for a power struggle between several imperial powers including the Russians and the French, as well as the Chinese and the Japanese.
The Meiji Restoration of 1868 ended the 265-year-old feudalistic Tokugawa shogunate in Japan. The new government of Japan sent a messenger holding a letter with the sovereign's message which informed of the founding of a new administration of Japan to the government of the Joseon Dynasty of the Korean Peninsula on December, 19th 1868.

However, the Joseon Dynasty refused to receive the letter because it contained the Chinese characters '' and ''. According to the political system of the day, only the Chinese emperor was allowed to use these characters, as they signified the imperial authority of China in the region. Hence, their use by a Japanese sovereign was considered unacceptable by Joseon, as it implied he was an equal of the Chinese emperor.
The Qing Dynasty prompted Joseon to receive the sovereign letter from Japan, because Qing knew the power of Japan at that moment. Despite government-level negotiations held 1875 in Busan, no substantial progress was made. Instead, tension grew as Joseon continued to refuse to recognize Japan's claims of equality with China.

The incident

In 1875, the ''Unyo'', a small Japanese warship under the command of Inoue Yoshika, was dispatched to survey coastal waters without Korean permission.
On September 20 the ship reached Ganghwa Island, which had been a site of violent confrontations between Korean forces and foreign forces in the previous decade. In 1866, the island was briefly occupied during the French Campaign against Korea, and also in 1871 subject to an American intervention. The memories of those confrontations were very fresh, and there was little question that the Korean garrison would shoot at any approaching foreign ship. Nonetheless, Commander Inoue ordered a small boat launched – allegedly in search of drinkable water. The Korean forts opened fire. The Unyo brought its superior firepower to bear and silenced the Korean guns. Then it attacked another Korean port and withdrew back to Japan.
After the incident, the Imperial Japanese Navy blockaded the immediate area and demanded an official apology from the Joseon government, which was concluded with the signing of Treaty of Ganghwa.

See also

★ Treaty of Ganghwa

★ Meiji period

★ Joseon Dynasty

★ Tribute