That the charge of favoring their own countrymen in the matter of concessions and monopolies, which has been somewhat freely made abroad against the Japanese Government in Korea, is not justifiable, the following proof may be cited. At some time between January 15 and January 29 of 1905, Mr. Yi-chai-kuk, then Minister of the Imperial Household of Korea, recognized and signed no fewer than twenty-three concessions granted to one Yi-Sei-chik, a Korean, and his four Japanese associates. These concessions included the consolidation of taxation on land, the utilization of the water-ways for various purposes, and state monopolies of tobacco, salt, kerosene, etc. Imperial orders were secretly given to the same Yi to raise a foreign loan of several million _yen_ for the purpose of detecting the secrets of the Military Headquarters stationed in Korea, as well as of the Tokyo Government, and to make reports about them.[80] These iniquitous transactions in which Koreans and Japanese were concerned were made, when discovered, the occasion of a memorandum of protest. This memorandum reminded the Korean Government and Court that they have often been unfaithful to the “general plan of administrative reform,” based upon the compact made between Korea and Japan, by granting to foreigners various important concessions in secret ways. With a view of putting an end to any further recurrence of such complications, an express Agreement was entered into, August, 1904, by which “it was stipulated that, in case of granting concessions to foreigners, or of making contracts with foreigners, the Imperial Governments should first be informed and consulted with.” The memorandum then goes on to express profound regret that “His Majesty and his Court” had attempted by these concessions, “in defiance of this provision, a breach of faith.” Then follows the demand upon the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Korea to take the following steps:— 1. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, after stating to His Majesty the above facts and reasons, shall announce in a most public way under the Imperial order that the concessions above mentioned are null and void, as they have failed to observe the provisions of the Agreement between Korea and Japan. 2. It shall also be most publicly announced under the Imperial order that, in any case of granting concessions to foreigners, either the Korean Government or the Court shall first consult with the Imperial Government.