Kim Ok-gyun was a reformist activist during the late Joseon dynasty of Korea.
20 Facts About Kim Ok-gyun
2.
Kim Ok-gyun served under the national civil service under King Gojong, and actively participated to advance Western ideas and sciences in Korea.
3.
Kim Ok-gyun's family was poor, and, by the age of four, they moved to Cheonan.
4.
Kim Ok-gyun's father opened a Seodang, or Korean verbal school, at which Kim was educated.
5.
For four years, Kim Ok-gyun stayed in what is today Seoul and, when Kim Ok-gyun Byung-gi was named the governor in Gangneung state in spring of 1861, they moved .
6.
When Kim Ok-gyun reached the age of fifteen, Kim Ok-gyun Byunggye was named "Beopmubu Chagwan" in the judicial office, and his family returned to Seoul.
7.
Kim Ok-gyun displayed his talents in playing the Kayakem, singing and dancing, poetry, calligraphy, and art.
8.
At the age of 22, Kim Ok-gyun took the national civil service exam, and was ranked "Jang-won Geub-jae".
9.
Kim Ok-gyun was for more open policies to the West so that Korea might adopt Western ideals, knowledge, and technology thereby securing its existence.
10.
Kim Ok-gyun showed a Japanese book that contained scenes of foreign nations.
11.
Therefore, Kim Ok-gyun wished to visit Japan to learn how the Japanese had westernized.
12.
In November 1881, Kim Ok-gyun was granted permission to visit Japan under the mission of finding out whether Japan was planning to invade Korea.
13.
Kim Ok-gyun concluded that for now Japan would not invade Korea because its military strength was not comparable to Qing China.
14.
Kim Ok-gyun felt that, in order to ensure survival when China was in decline, Korea would have to borrow Japanese help to modernize itself, and that the only solution to the situation was to introduce a new political force to wipe out the present dominant party.
15.
Kim Ok-gyun returned home in March 1884 without having attained his goal.
16.
Kim Ok-gyun added that the Sino-French War was a great chance for spurring another movement, to which the Japanese government would definitely respond to.
17.
Kim Ok-gyun led a life under the protection of the Japanese government, staying in Tokyo, then in Sapporo, and visiting the Ogasawara Islands.
18.
Kim Ok-gyun's body was turned over to a Chinese warship, where it was dismembered.
19.
The assassination of Kim Ok-gyun was cited by the Japanese as one of the events leading to the First Sino-Japanese War.
20.
Kim Ok-gyun's assassination served as a casus belli for the First Sino-Japanese War.