| Battle of Ganghwa | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) Japanese marines landing from theUn'yō atYeongjong Island which is near Ganghwa. | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Japan |  Korea | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Inoue Yoshika | Commander Lee Min-deok | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Land: 22sailors andmarines Sea: 1 gunboat | Land: 500 infantry Artillery pieces | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 1 killed 1 wounded | 35 killed[1] 16 captured 36 artillery piece and small cannon captured 1 fort destroyed | ||||||
TheGanghwa Island incident or the JapaneseBattle of Ganghwa (Korean:운요호 사건 [雲揚號事件]Unyo-ho sageon meaning "Un'yō incident";Japanese:江華島事件Kōka-tō jiken) was an armed clash between theJoseon dynasty of Korea and Japan which occurred in the vicinity ofGanghwa Island on September 20, 1875.
In the second half of the 19th century, the Korean Peninsula was the scene of a power struggle between several imperial powers, including theRussians and theFrench, as well as the Chinese and the Japanese.
TheMeiji Restoration of 1868 ended the 265-year-old feudalisticTokugawa shogunate inJapan. The new government ofJapan sent a messenger holding a letter with the sovereign's message which informed of the founding of a new administration ofJapan to the government of KoreaJoseon dynasty on December 19, 1868.
However, the Koreans refused to receive the letter because it contained theChinese characters皇 ("royal, imperial") and勅 ("imperial decree").[2] According to the political system of the day, only theChinese emperor was allowed to use those characters, as they signified the imperial authority ofChina.[2] Hence, their use by a Japanese sovereign was considered unacceptable to the Koreans by implying that he was an equal of the emperor ofChina.[2]
The Chinese suggested to the Koreans to receive the sovereign letter fromJapan becauseChina knew the power ofJapan at that moment.[3] Despite government-level negotiations held in 1875 atPusan, no substantial progress was made. Instead, tension grew as the Koreans continued to refuse to recognize Japan's claims of equality with China.
Ganghwa Island had been a site of violent confrontations between Korean forces and foreign forces over the previous decade. In 1866, the island was briefly occupied during theFrench expedition against Korea, and in 1871 it was the site of anAmerican expedition.
On the morning of September 20, 1875, theUn'yō under the command ofInoue Yoshika was dispatched to survey Korean coastal waters. While surveying the Western coast of Korea, the Japanese put ashore a party on Ganghwa Island to request water and provisions.[1] When the shore batteries of the Korean forts fired on theUn'yō, the Japanese response was swift and severe.[1] After bombarding the Korean fortifications, the Japanese landed a shore party that torched several houses on the island and engaged Korean troops. Armed with modern rifles, they made quick work of the Koreans who carried matchlock muskets; consequently, thirty-five Korean soldiers were killed.[1] News of the incident did not reach Tokyo until September 28, but the following day theDajōkan decided to dispatch gun boats to Pusan to protect Japanese residents there. It also began deliberating whether or not to send a mission to Korea to settle the incident.[1]
The number of casualties of the incident was recorded at 35 in the Joseon Dynasty with two Japanese soldiers wounded. In addition, 16 Korean naval personnel were captured by Japan. Many weapons were also looted. After the incident, theImperial Japanese Navy blockaded the immediate area and requested an official apology from the Joseon government, which was concluded with the dispatch of theKuroda mission and the signing of theTreaty of Ganghwa on February 27, 1876, which opened the Korean Peninsula to Japanese and foreign trade.