The Kabo reforms and the Korean Empire are the two main ones.

Korea has always been a "shrimp caught between two whales" (China and Japan) and 1894 was the turning point for Korea. The entire 19th century was tumultuous with internal strife. Japan had been repelled by 1598, and the Manchu invasion of 1637 was the last foreign invasion of Korea until the the Japanese came back in 1894 during the Sino-Japanese War. During the 19th century, the local population became restless: slavery was abolished, the Tonghak group came about, was destroyed, and then came back again for rebellion in 1894, and foreign influence began to appear in the mid 1860's.

In 1866, the US steamer General Sherman entered the Taedong river and went towards Pyongyang. They were told to leave, ignored the order, and were then killed by the locals (the Kim family of North Korea claims that it was Kim Il-sungs great grandfather that led the attack - most likely total bullshit). In 1871, the United States Expedition to Korea entered the Han River basin at Ganghwa island (this portion of the river is the current border between North and South Korea today), they were attacked, they returned fire and landed troops on the island killing many Koreans with only a handful of US casualties, captured a couple of forts, and then withdrew. It wasn't until 1882 that the US and Korea signed a treaty. Here is a page about the 1871 battle. A friend of mine wrote his PhD dissertation on the battle and was responsible for returning the Korean battle flag captured during the attack.

So back to 1894. By this point, Korea has been forced open - first by Japan in 1876, then by the United States in 1882. Japanese soldiers were stationed in Korea to help train the Korean military. In 1882 and 1884, Korean soldiers began to rebel against the government for the slow pace of reforms. Both coups were put down by Chinese troops, and the 1884 coup (the Kapsin Coup) leaders had to flee to Japan. In 1894, Japan and Qing China went to war over Korea (Chinese troops entered Korea to put down the Tonghak rebellion, but failed to notify Japan as per treaty obligations). Japan won and forced China to abandon its tributary system with Korea. During the war, the Japanese had brought troops to Wonsan and Pyongyang, as well as Asan and Incheon, fighting battles in Pyongyang, Asan, and, after marching north, at Dandong on the Chinese border.

That summer, the Japanese occupied the royal palace in Seoul and demanded that the Korean government implement reforms that were favorable to Japanese security. As Japan had troops all over the capital area, the Koreans had no choice. A Deliberative Assembly was formed and reforms were made. Lower classes were included in the new government, and distance was put between Korea and China. The Kabo reforms were being passed. From 1894 to 1896, the old Joseon system was replaced with a new, modern form of government.

Unfortunately, these reforms were too little, too late. They were being pushed both implicitly and explicitly by the Japanese. In 1895, the Queen of Korea was assassinated by the Japanese and in 1896, anti-Japanese forces took the King to the Russian legation, and ran the Kabo government and Japanese forces out of Korea. The Great Korean Empire would be declared in 1897 and modernization would happen - 1898 saw the first nationwide land survey, 1899 brought the first street cars to Seoul and the first railroad to the country (built by a Japanese company) - but it was too little, too late. The Japanese would come back to Korea in 1904 to fight the Russians who they felt were getting too close to Korea, and then in 1910, they would annex the whole country.

TLDR - yes, the Kabo reforms of 1894-1896 were an attempt to break away from the Chinese/Confucian/old ways and start a more modern system. The external nature of the situation led to rebellions and the reforms failed. Some historians have speculated that if started sooner, the reforms might have prevented the Japanese colonization, but that is a controversial viewpoint.