December and January saw matters move to an inevitable climax. The cabinet forced upon the people the edict ordering the cutting off of the top-knot, the distinctive mark of Korean citizenship. The whole country was in a ferment and the people, almost to a man, were gnashing their teeth at the cabinet. The finding of the Hiroshima court claimed to have freed Miura and his fellows from blame and it was rumored that several of them were to return to Korea to take office under the government. Chöng Pyung-ha, a proved traitor, had been reinstated in the cabinet as Minister of Agriculture and Cho Heui-yŭn as Minister of War, and it was reported that Kwŭn Yŭng-jin who had fled to Japan would be made again Chief of Police. It was perfectly evident, therefore, that the grip of the Japanese upon the king through the Gaoler Cabinet was tightening and that there was no escape from it except through heroic measures. These measures the king was prepared to adopt rather than longer endure the humiliating position to which he seemed condemned. At that time the principal men in the cabinet were Kim Hong-jip, Chöng Pyŭng-ha, O Yun-jung, Yu Kil-jun. Of these O Yun-jung seems to have been far less culpable than the rest. The king had great confidence in him and had he not met his fate at the hands of the people he would probably have been called back to office. But now we come to the important step taken by His Majesty to free himself from his unpleasant position. He determined to find asylum in the Russian Legation. C. Waeber was the Russian Minister, a pronounced friend of the dead Queen, and a man of great ability. Just how he was approached and his consent gained to the king’s scheme is not generally known but in view of subsequent events and the part that Russia intended to play in Korea it is easy to see how the Russian Representative would welcome an opportunity to do the King such a signal service and one which was of such a personal character as to render it certain that it would never be forgotten.