Korea has always found it necessary to remain cautious of foreign powers, both near and far. Japan was a threat to the east, Northeastern tribes threatened Korea's northern borders, and Qing had forcefully brought Joseon as its tributary state after the Joseon dynasty continued to support the Ming. The conflict between the East and the West that occurred in the late 19th century was another such conflict that Korea had tried to remain isolated from.

Korea's diplomacy with other nations was minuscule compare to China certainly. Korea maintained diplomatic contact with primarily Japan and China with limited interactions with China's other tributary states as a part of being within their sphere of influence. European nations had come to Korea to look for trade and spread Christianity, but similar to China, Korean merchants turned away these opportunities and according to Dr. Michael Seth's A history of Korea, even asked the Qing to explain to the British that they weren't interested in opening up the country.

Korea became only aware of the Opium Wars through their diplomatic contacts with the Qing. The first Opium War was easy to dismiss as "merely a successful attack by barbarians", but the real alarming event was the occupation of Beijing and utter devastation of the Qing army by Anglo-French forces during the second Opium War.

China's defeats and a few incidents (such as the Sinmi yangyo in 1871) only reinforced Korea's views that Westerns barbarians planned to overthrow the nation and anti-foreign sentiments grew. However, desires to reform, nationalist tendencies, and remove Neoconfucian influence from Korea alongside other progressive views also grew in tandem including a desire for an independent Korea.

The Sino-Japanese War was thus grown out of Chinese-Japanese competition for influence over Korea and of an anti-foreigner movement in Korea called the Donghak rebellion. The specific trigger for the rebellion was the abuse of the peasantry within a province, but the Joseon government panicked and requested the Qing to send in troops to control this violent outbreak. Japan also sent troops under the pretense of protecting its citizens living in Korea (by this point Joseon trade was completely dominated by the Japanese). China requested a joint withdrawal of forces after the rebellion had dissipated but Japan instead proposed to have both powers push for internal reform in Korea. Japan took up the reformist cause in Korea as a way to undermine Chinese influence; with neither proposal being agreed upon, Japan preemptively attacked Chinese troops, leading to the war.

Japanese troops crushed Chinese troops on both land and sea, and when it came round to negotiating an armistice, Japan "hypocritically asserted Korean independence" to remove Korea's tributary status to China and pushed for the Kabo reforms. All of this was met with excitement from many Koreans, but it also allowed Japan to sideline Korean royalty and eventually annex Korea in 1910.

Qing support gradually waned as European nations and Japan demonstrated their power over China. Koreans realized their need for reform (which included breaking away from China) but ended up falling instead into Japanese influence despite their desire for an independent and sovereign Korea.

• A History of Korea by Michael Seth

• Everlasting Flower: A History of Korea by Keith Pratt