Forced Abdication of Gojong

Using the Hague mission as a pretext, Japan and pro-Japanese ministers forced Gojong to give up the throne to Sunjong, who took the era name Yunghui.

Itō Hirobumi and the Lee Wan-yong cabinet blamed Gojong and demanded his abdication. On 19 July Gojong only issued an edict naming the crown prince as regent, but the next day Japan held an abdication ceremony without either of them and treated it as a transfer of the throne. Crowds in Seoul protested and burned Lee Wan-yong’s house.

Four days later Japan forced a new treaty on Korea. Gyeongungung became the retired emperor’s residence under the name Deoksugung, and Sunjong moved to Changdeokgung.