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Say that Empress Meyongseong wasn't assassinated by the pro-Japanese soldiers and that the empress managed to keep Korea independent and modernize it.

(Just a background note on Empress Meyongseong: She supported education for both men and women, allowed the first printing press to open, opened the doors of Korea to the west in order to modernize, modernized the economy by allowing Western traders to enter Korean markets and protecting Korean businesses, and reformed and improved the military by applying modern doctrines. It is said that if she had been alive for a decade or two more, Korea could've industrialized as fast as Japan. Only her death prevented industrial breakout.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empress_Myeongseong).

What would the political field of Asia be like? Would Korea be able to retain independence and prevent total annexation from the Japanese? Would the Russians and Chinese pour more aid into Korea in an attempt to prevent complete Japanese domination? How would a relatively modernized Korea play a part in the First Sino-Japanese War?
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