Empress Myeongseong

Empress Myeongseong, also called Queen Min, was the wife of King Gojong and an influential figure in late Joseon politics. She sought foreign support to resist Japanese domination and was assassinated in 1895 by Japanese agents and Korean collaborators at Gyeongbokgung Palace.

Empress Myeongseong also held the offices or ranks of queen consort and empress consort. Empress Myeongseong belonged to the Yeoheung Min clan. Empress Myeongseong was born in Yeoju and died in Gyeongbokgung.

Pearl S. Buck’s The Living Reed places Empress Myeongseong within the Korean court as foreign pressure from Japan, China and the Western powers intensifies in the late nineteenth century. Her attempts to preserve royal independence and balance rival external influences make her a political counterweight to Japanese expansion, and her assassination becomes one of the novel’s defining examples of how great-power competition tears through a Korean family’s private and national life.