It was this central island, Observation Island (거문도) or Godo (고도) (古島), which was the location of the British naval base from 1885 to 1887.

The strategic importance of Komundo, being a natural harbour that allowed control of the Korea Strait between Korea and Japan was recognised by the United States Navy, who considered seizing the islands in 1884.

In April 1885 Komundo was seized by three ships of the Royal Navy on orders from the Admiralty. This was to forestall Russian advances in the face of the Pandjeh Incident in Afghanistan.

Geomun-do

The Japanese had secured an agreement from China in 1885 that both countries should withdraw their troops from Korea and should send no more there without informing and giving notice to the other. When the Tong-haks, thirty thousand in number, came within a hundred miles of Seoul, and actually defeated a small Korean force led by Chinese, Yuan Shih-kai saw that something must be done. If the rebels were allowed to reach and capture the capital, Japan would have an excuse for intervention. He induced the King to ask for Chinese troops to come and put down the uprising; and as required by the regulations, due notice of their coming was sent to Japan.

THE MURDER OF THE QUEEN

For a decade thereafter, China reasserted a rare direct influence when Yuan Shikai momentarily made China first among the foreign powers resident in Korea. He represented the scholar- general and governor of Tianjin, Li Hongzhang, as Director- General Resident in Korea of Diplomatic and Commercial Relations in Seoul in 1885. A reformer in China, Yuan had no use for Korean reformers and instead blocked the slightest sign of Korean nationalism.

Loc2:Korea in the 19th Century World Order

rivate mission schools such as Yonsei University (founded in 1885) and Ewha Women’s University (founded in 1886), both established primarily by foreign missionaries, served large roles in the uplifting of national consciousness. These educational institutions produced numerous individuals who had been taught a new kind of education, leading to a change in traditional values and the beginning of the collapse of Confucian class society.

Religion