Myeoung Seong was the last Empress of the Joseon dynasty in Korea. She was an enthusiastic and smart woman. She showed her ability in political affairs on behalf of the incompetent Emperor KoJong. She supported the Emperor to become allies with other countries to prevent Japan from invading Korea in the late nineteenth century. The japanese government soon realized that she was the biggest obstacle in their way.

In the early morning on October 10th, in 1895, 25 samurais raided the royal palace. They could not find the Empress at first, since all women servants insisted they were her. Without any mercy, the samurais killed any beautiful women who they suspected as the queen one by one, until they found the Empress. The Empress was beaten until she fainted and was brutally murdered by the samurais. They burnt the Highness in the palace. Their official secret code name for this assassination was "Foxhunt".

On May 10th, 2005, 110 years later, three japanese visited the Empress grave. They were the descendants of one of the samurais. They kneeled down, and apologized with tears. By the shock of real truth of his great grandfather, the great grandson was very ashamed and could not talk about his ancestor even to his son and wife. "When I was young, I only thought it was a patriotic behavior. But I realized how horrible it was to kill a queen of a country that way. My grandmother always told us to become people who save lives, not those who kill." And he added that his family has become medical doctors for generations and take care of many Korean patients in Japan.

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It was impossible for me to find any pictures of the Empress. I used Korean motifs and fashion show photos to get an idea of Empress clothing. There was one old photo that was known as the Empress, but later it was proved to be wrong. Back then, the japanese government did not want Koreans to remember her as she was, so they used an ugly woman's photo to give a false impression that the Empress was ugly and stupid.
Now there are movements flourishing that are trying to find the long forgotten history of Myeoung Seong, the last Empress in Korea.


Watercolor, 16x20