Kim Ok-gyun

Shot on 28 March 1894 in Shanghai by Hong Jong-u; the leader of the failed Gapsin coup of 1884 was killed in exile as a warning to Korean reformers.

Overview

Kim Ok-gyun had led the three day Gapsin coup of December 1884, a Japanese-influenced attempt to modernize Korean government that was crushed by Qing troops. He lived in exile in Japan under wary protection. Lured to Shanghai by an invitation he believed political, he was shot by Hong Jong-u, a fellow Korean in Japanese employ, in a hotel. His body was shipped to Korea, where it was quartered and displayed as the fate of traitors, an act that inflamed Japanese opinion. Within months the Donghak rebellion, the Sino-Japanese War, and the murder of Queen Min followed in cascade. Kim became a martyr to Korean modernization, and his remains were honored by the post-1945 republics as a patriot.