including Queen Min assumed authority, but relations between Korea and Japan did not turn better, the Min clan changing their policies from being pro-Japanese to pro-Qing China. When Japan beat China in 1895 in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Treaty of Shimonoseki was concluded, and removed China's suzerainty over Korea. Japan became alarmed when Russia enhanced its grip and influence over the Korean peninsula by acquiring vital state assets such as the mining rights in Chongsong and Gyeongwon sold off by Queen Min, such as timber rights in the north, and tariff rights, so it purchased back and restored many of these. Japan's victory against China in the First Sino-Japanese War, released Korea from China's tributary system and the Treaty of Shimonoseki forced China to acknowledge Korea as an "independent" nation. Japan began the process of invading Korea; however, the Min clan, including the Queen Min, started attempts to protect Korea from the rise of Japanese power in Korea. In 1895, Queen Min was gang raped, assassinated and then burned in public by Japan's military, in retaliation for her efforts to promote Russian influence and resist the Japanese invasion. The brutal assassination of the queen was a traumatic event, given Queen Min's popularity among the Korean people. The Gabo Reform and the assassination of Empress Myeongseong generated backlash against Japanese presence in Korea; it caused some Confucian scholars, as well as farmers, to form over 60 successive righteous armies to fight for Korean freedom on the Korean peninsula. In 1897, Joseon was renamed the Korean Empire (1897–1910), affirming its independence, but greatly gravitated closer to Russia, with the King ruling from the Russian legation, and then using Russian guards upon return to his palace. 20th century Japanese protectorate Japan declared war on Russia to drive out Russian influence, while Korea declared to be neutral. Japan's victory in the Russo-Japanese War, the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1905 was agreed in which Korea became a colony of Japan. Japanese officials increasingly controlled the national government but had little local presence, thereby allowing space for anti-Japanese activism by Korean nationalists. The new status failed because of a combination of diverse economic, historical, and emotional factors. Japan underestimated Korean nationalism and the hostility with which Koreans reacted against the modernizing programs which Japan was introducing. Emperor Gojong, who did not accept the conclusion of this Treaty, dispatched secret envoys to the second Hague Peace Conference