Gaehwapa activists headed toward the city port of Jemulpo (Incheon) under the escort of the Japanese ambassador Takejo, and boarded a Japanese ship, Sensei. When there was a request to the Japanese ambassador Takejo to hand over the activists, he yielded; the Japanese captain Sujikas scolded Takejo and prohibited their release. The activists fled, many to the United States, but Kim Okgyun to Japan. Because his Korean name would be unfit for living in Japan, the captain gave Kim a new name, Iwata Shusaku. He led a life under the protection of the Japanese government, staying in Tokyo, then in Sapporo, and also visiting the Ogasawara Islands. Following the failure of the Gapsin Coup, Kim lived in fear of assassination. However, when invited to meet with Li Hongzhang (李鴻章) in Shanghai, he felt that he could not refuse. Before departing Kim gave his personal diaries to Koyama, one of his close Japanese friends, in case something should happen to him. Hong Jong-u who had travelled to Japan in 1893 to assassinate Kim Okgyun and Park Yeong-hyo (another reform-minded Korean) learned of the voyage and managed to obtain passage to China on the same vessel. While en route to Shanghai he killed Kim Okgyun with a pistol. Hong later returned to Korea where he was appointed to high office. Kim's body was turned over to a Chinese warship, where it was dismembered. Parts of the body were put on public display in several towns in Korea as a traditional humiliation and punishment for treason. In Japan, there was an official protest to the Chinese government over the treatment of Kim's remains. Fukuzawa Yukichi led a memorial service in Japan in Kim's honor, and erected a gravestone for him at the Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo. The assassination of Kim Ok-gyun was cited by the Japanese as one of the events leading to the First Sino-Japanese War. After his death Kim Ok-gyun's assassination served as a casus belli for the First Sino-Japanese War. The Japanese government predicted the assassination of Kim Ok-gyun, but they did not stop the assassination. Family Great-Grandfather Kim Hu-sun (김후순, 金厚淳) Grandfather Kim Gyo-geun (김교근, 金喬根) Father Kim Byeong-tae (김병태, 金炳台) Adoptive father - Kim Byeong-gi (김병기, 金炳基) (1814 - 1891) Mother Lady Song of the Eunjin Song clan (은진 송씨) Adoptive mother - Lady Jo of the Pungyang Jo clan (풍양 조씨) Siblings Older sister - Kim Gyun-yi