The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-05-07
The Murder of Queen Min.

We printed yesterday q summary OF
the results Of the latest investigation
| Of the circumstances attending the
brutal murder OF the Queen of Korea
IN tho palace at Seoul on the morning
of the Sth Of last October. The full text
is published in the Korean Repository for
March, Just at hand, and It consists Of the
report Of q Vice-Minister to VI Pom CHIN,
the Korean Minister Of Law. This is a doc
ument not only OF dramatic interest but also
of international Importance.
1t derives such Importance from the ac-
cumulating evidence duplicating high Jap
anese officials in the conspiracy to assas-
sinate this royal woman Of strong character
and dominating influence in the Court, and
connecting Japanese soldiers with the ac-
tual murder.
A gang of Korean civilians, japanese
soSht, and soldiers from the japanese troops
occupying Seoul, entered the palace grounds
at dawn and proceeded to the inner quar-
tiers. A brief conflict occurred between the
Japanese soldiers and the Korean soldiers
composing the palace guard. The assassins
then surrounded the building where Queen
MIN VI was. In the attacking party were
Nv VI II odph1Cbo III a. hhAiSA Ne
The King, hoping to divert the attention OF
the murderers and thus enable the Queen
to escape, came from the inner rooms and
confronted the band OF murderers. He was
treated with indignity, but was not other
wise harmed. The same was true with re-
gard to the Crown Prince. Under the pro-
lection of the Japanese officers and troopsir
the courtyard, some thirty or more of the
sOsht, under the leadership OF a Japanese,
rushed with drawn swords into the private
apartments Of the royal family. They
bounded the poor Queen into a small room,
where she was trying to hide, and there cut
her down with their swords. G~rievously
wounded or dead. her body was taken on a
plank to a grove in the deer park of the
palace enclosure. There the murderers,
still guarded by the regular Japanese
troops. poured kerosene oil over the Queens
body, and, with faggots piled around, made q
bonfire of it.
Until now, the exact facts regarding one of
the most barbarous and shocking crimes of
the century have been yelled In mystery,
although this is the third judicial inquiry
into the circumstances. The first was a
sham, conducted by the Korean courts under
the control OF a former Cabinet hostile to
Queen MIN VI. The second was the trial, in
the Japanese courts, Of the Viscount MIURA
GoRo~, Japanese Minister in Seoul; OKAMoTR
RYUNosUKE, Japanese adviser to the Korean
Departments Of Wa and the Household;
SUGIMURA FUKAsHI, Secretary of Legation at
Seoul, and forty-ive other Japanese of more
or less prominence In Korean affairs. The
remarkable fact is that the japanese courts
practically convicted these high officers of
completely in the plot to murder the Queen,
while discharging them on the ground that
there was mo sufficient evidence to prove
that any Of the accused actually committed
the crime originally meditated by them"
The new light thrown upon the affair by
the third investigation impeaches the honor
and good fame Of Japan as a civilized ma
ton, and imperatively requires hat the
Government at Toxic shall take up again
the proceedings against its subjects at the
point where the Hiroshima court stopped.