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( Korean Empire)
 The Korean Empire was a former small empire of Korea that lasted from the Gwangmu Restoration of 1897 until Japan's annexation of Korea in 1910. The new title was specifically assigned to the state ruled by the Joseon Dynasty over for the past 500 years. The declaration of empire indicated the restoration of complete Korean sovereignty from the control of Qing Dynasty China and continued major modernization reforms. In 1897, King Gojong returned to Gyeongungung Palace from his refuge at the Russian consulate and proclaimed the new entity. It oversaw the partially successful modernization of the military, economy, real property laws, education system, and various industries. In 1894, the Empire of Japan emerged victorious in the First Sino-Japanese War against the Qing Dynasty of China, bringing it to the forefront of international politics in the Far East, which quickly pitted it against the expanding Russian Empire that, along with Japan, was competing for influence in the region. The Sino-Japanese War also marked the rapid decline of any power the Joseon Dynasty of Korea had managed to hold against foreign interference, as the battles of the conflict itself had been fought on Korean soil and the surrounding seas. With its newfound preeminence over waning China, Japan had Japanese delegates negotiate the Treaty of Shimonoseki with the Qing emissaries, through which Japan wrested control over the Liaodong Peninsula from China (a move designed to prevent the southern expansion of Japan new rival in Russia), and, more importantly to Korea, scrapped the centuries-old tributary relationship between Joseon and the Qing Dynasty. However, Russia realized this agreement as an act against its interests in northeastern China and eventually brought France and Germany to its side in saying that the Liaodong Peninsula should be repatriated to China.
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