The Japanese envoy opened the conference by asking why the Koreans had given no answer to the repeated requests of the Japanese for the consummation of a treaty of peace and friendship. The Korean commissioner replied that from the very earliest times Japan had always addressed Korea in respectful language, but that now she had arrogated to herself the title of Great Japan and called her ruler the Great Emperor. This seemed to imply the vassalage of Korea, an entirely new role for her to play. The Japanese replied that the mere assumption of the name of empire on the part of Japan implied nothing as to the status of Korea one way or the other. This seemed to satisfy the Koreans. The Japanese then asked why they had been fired upon at Yŭng-jŭng. The answer was that the Japanese were dressed in European clothes and were therefore mistaken for Europeans. But when the Japanese asked why the Koreans had not recognized the Japanese flag, especially since the Japanese government had been careful to send copies of their flag to Korea and ask that one be sent to each of the prefectures throughout the land, the Korean commissioners could find nothing to say and had to confess that they had been in error. All these things were duly reported to the authorities in Seoul where daily councils were being held to discuss the important questions. The ex-Regent sent an urgent appeal to the ministers not to make a treaty, but the tide had turned, and after some sharp discussion as to how the two governments should be designated in the treaty it was finally ratified on February 27th 1876, and Korea was a hermit no longer. Three months later a semi official envoy was sent to Japan in the person of Kim Keui-su. Meanwhile the closing days of 1875 had beheld a curious event in Seoul. In the dead of night the house of Yi Ch’oe-eung, the Prime Minister and the brother of the ex-Regent, was set on fire by an unknown hand and burned to the ground. None of the inmates were injured. The culprit was seized and under torture confessed that one Sin Ch’ŭl-gyun had hired him to do the work. Sin was therefore seized and put to death as a traitor. Whether he was indeed guilty and if so whether he was but an agent in the business are questions that have never been answered.