Japan–Korea Treaty of 1885
1885 treaty between Japan and Korea regarding the Gapsin Coup
The Japan–Korea Treaty of 1885, also known as the Treaty of Hanseong (Japanese: 漢城条約, Hepburn: Kanjō Jōyaku) with Hanseong (Korean: 한성; Hanja: 漢城) being a historical name for Seoul, was negotiated between Japan and Korea following an unsuccessful coup d'état in the Korean capital in December 1884.
Background
A coup d'état, also known as the Gapsin Coup, was attempted on December 4, 1884. The timing of the coup took advantage of the fact that the Chinese withdrew half of its garrison troops from Seoul.
After only three days, the revolt was suppressed by Chinese military forces which were garrisoned in the Korean capital city of Hanseong (Seoul). During the conflict, the Japanese legation building was burned down, and forty Japanese were killed.
Inoue Kaoru was the chief Japanese diplomat in dealings with Korea. Diplomatic negotiations were concluded in January 1885.
Treaty provisions
The Japanese government demanded and received an apology and reparations.
Aftermath
In an effort to defuse tensions over Korea, both Japan and China agreed to withdraw their troops from Korea in the Convention of Tientsin of April 1885.
See also
Unequal treaties
Notes
References
Duus, Peter.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Japan–Korea Treaty of 1885” is 1885 treaty between Japan and Korea regarding the Gapsin Coup. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Japan, Korea and Treaty, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “1885 treaty between Japan and Korea regarding the Gapsin Coup” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q912109. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1885 and 1884.
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This entry incorporates text from “Japan–Korea Treaty of 1885” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.