 The discourse over the two were interlinked, as the German military adviser Major Jacob Meckel stated, Korea was a ""dagger pointed at the heart of Japan"".What made Korea of strategic concern was not merely its proximity to Japan but its inability to defend itself against outsiders.If Korea were truly independent, it posed no strategic problem to Japan's national security but if the country remained backward and uncivilized it would remain weak and consequently would be inviting prey for foreign domination.