Emperor Gojong

Gojong (1852–1919) was the 26th king of Joseon and, after proclaiming the Korean Empire in 1897, its first emperor. Having begun personal rule following the regency of his father Heungseon Daewongun, he opened the country through the 1876 Treaty of Ganghwa and later pursued the Gwangmu Reforms to modernize the new empire. Yet national sovereignty was shaken amid the rivalry of foreign powers, as seen in the Eulmi Incident in which Queen Myeongseong was assassinated, his flight to the Russian legation, the Eulsa Treaty, and his dispatch of secret envoys to The Hague. His reign marked a turning point in modern Korean history, when Joseon declared itself an empire while independence and crisis intertwined.