Kapsin Coup

In December 1884 a small circle of young Korean reformers tried to seize control of the Joseon government in Seoul, hoping to free the kingdom from Chinese domination and remake it along the lines of Meiji Japan. Backed by a handful of Japanese legation guards, they held power for about three days, from 4 to 6 December, before Chinese troops crushed them. The failure, known as the Kapsin Coup or Kapsin Revolution, left China more firmly in charge of Korean affairs for the next decade.

After the Imo Incident of 1882, a military revolt in Seoul, Chinese forces entered Korea and Qing officials began to shape its government directly. Trade regulations agreed in October 1882 gave Chinese merchants special advantages and legal immunity, and restated Korea's dependence on China. Chinese advisers were placed in the new foreign office, and the young officer Yuan Shikai trained a new Korean guard unit. Chinese troops remained in the capital, and King Gojong could not even appoint diplomats without Chinese consent.

The would-be revolutionaries belonged to the Enlightenment Party, or Gaehwapa. Most were well-educated sons of the yangban aristocracy, and all had spent time in Japan. Their acknowledged leader was Kim Okkyun, then 33; the others, including Pak Yŏnghyo, Hong Yeong-sik, Seo Gwang-beom and Philip Jaisohn, were in their twenties. They wanted rapid reform and genuine independence from China.

Power at court, however, lay with the family of Queen Min. Her relatives filled the key offices and, after 1882, leaned on Chinese support. Their conservative allies favoured slow change, borrowing Western technology while keeping the Confucian social order intact. Shut out of important posts, the reformers decided to act by force.

Their chance came when war between France and China over Vietnam led the Qing to withdraw half of their garrison from Korea. The Japanese minister, Takezoe Shinichiro, promised the help of his legation guards. On 4 December 1884, during a banquet held to mark the opening of the new national post office, the conspirators struck. They told the king, falsely, that Chinese soldiers were causing trouble, moved him to a small palace under Japanese guard, and killed or wounded several leading conservative officials.

The reformers announced a new government and drew up a 14-point programme. It called for ending tribute to China, abolishing aristocratic privilege and establishing equal rights, reorganising the government on near-constitutional lines, reforming land taxes, creating a modern police force and punishing corrupt officials.

The new regime had perhaps 140 Japanese soldiers behind it, against at least 1,500 Chinese troops in Seoul under Yuan Shikai. Queen Min secretly asked the Chinese to intervene, and they attacked, defeating the Japanese and restoring the conservatives before the reforms could even be published. Hong Yeong-sik was killed, the Japanese legation was burned, and some forty Japanese soldiers died. Kim Okkyun, Pak Yŏnghyo, Seo Gwang-beom and Philip Jaisohn escaped to the port of Chemulpo and sailed into exile in Japan.

Gojong cancelled the reforms and protested to Japan. Japan instead demanded redress, sent troops and warships, and in January 1885 obtained a treaty under which Korea paid ¥100,000 and provided a site for a new legation. Later that year Itō Hirobumi and Li Hongzhang agreed the Convention of Tianjin, under which both powers withdrew their troops and promised to notify each other before sending any again. Yuan Shikai stayed on as China's resident in Seoul and continued to steer Korean politics. The uneasy balance between China and Japan lasted until the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894.

Our 1880 map shows the Joseon kingdom beside the Qing Empire and the Empire of Japan; the 1900 map shows the region after China's defeat by Japan.