Manchuria, however, constituted only one half—perhaps the less important half—of the great Eastern problem which perplexed the world and imperiled the future life of Japan. In the other half, namely, Korea, Japan was confronted by a situation similar and closely allied to that in Manchuria, and more directly menacing to herself. Let us briefly describe the evolution of the complex Korean question which ensued upon the Chinese-Japanese war of 1894–5. The war had arisen from the conflicting wishes of the belligerent Powers regarding Korea, China asserting suzerain rights over the Peninsular Kingdom, and the interests of Japan making its effective independence imperative. Unfortunately, Korea’s lack of material strength rendered her real independence impossible, and her strength could be secured, from the Japanese point of view, only by a thoroughgoing reform of her administrative, financial, and economic system, which had sunk into a state of unspeakable corruption and decay. By her victory, the colossal task devolved upon Japan of reforming the national institutions of a people whose political training in the past seemed to have made them particularly impervious to such an effort. Perhaps no work more delicate and more liable to blunder and misunderstanding could befall a nation than that of setting another nation’s house in order who would not feel its necessity. In this difficult enterprise, the Japanese showed themselves as inexperienced as the Koreans were reluctant and resentful. Three million _yen_ were furnished by Japan to Korea in the interest of various reforms, as also were numerous councilors, including such able men as Shūichirō Saitō and the late Tōru Hoshi. Some of the others, however, were either inferior in attainments or impatient of slow processes. The entire movement was intrusted to the direction of the new Japanese Minister, Count K. Inoüé, a generous, brilliant, and bold statesman. He presented to the Korean sovereign a plan of reform, which included the proposal to remove from her share of political control the versatile Queen, whose family of the Min had grown powerful by means of the abuses which the Count wished to eradicate. In this attempt, in which he was largely successful, of drawing a line of demarcation between the Court and the Government, he inevitably incurred the deep ire of the family whose influence had been predominant both at the capital and in the country. Other measures of his reform further antagonized the official nobility of the Kingdom.[492] The influence of the Count, however, was so great, and the training of Korean troops by Japanese officers seemed so successful, that even the domineering Queen was obliged to await a more favorable moment to regain her lost prestige.