Empress Myeongseong or Empress Myungsung (17 November 1851–8 October 1895), known informally as Queen Min, was the first official wife of Gojong, the 26th king of Joseon and the first emperor of the Korean Empire. She was posthumously called Myeongseong, the Great Empress (명성태황후, 明成太皇后).

The government of Meiji Japan (明治政府) considered Empress Myeongseong (明成皇后) an obstacle to its overseas expansion. Efforts to remove her from the political arena, orchestrated through failed rebellions prompted by the father of King Gojong, the Heungseon Daewongun (an influential regent working with the Japanese), compelled her to take a harsher stand against Japanese influence.After Japan's victory in the First Sino-Japanese War, Joseon Korea came under the Japanese sphere of influence. The Empress advocated stronger ties between Korea and Russia in an attempt to block Japanese influence in Korea. Miura Gorō, the Japanese Minister to Korea at that time and a retired army lieutenant-general, backed the faction headed by the Daewongun, whom he considered to be more sympathetic to Japanese interests.

In the early morning of 8 October 1895, the Hullyeondae Regiment, loyal to the Daewongun, attacked the Gyeongbokgung, overpowering its Royal Guards. Hullyeondae officers, led by Major Woo Beomseon, then allowed a group of former samurai, specifically recruited for this purpose, to infiltrate and assassinate the Empress in the palace, under orders from Miura Gorō. The assassination of the Empress ignited outrage among other foreign powers.Domestically, the assassination prompted anti-Japanese sentiment in Korea with the "Short Hair Act Order" (단발령, 斷髮令), and some Koreans created the Eulmi Righteous Army and actively set up protests nationwide. Following the Empress's assassination, Emperor Gojong and the crown prince (later Emperor Sunjong of Korea) fled to the Russian legation in 1896. This led to the general repeal of the Gabo Reform, which was controlled by Japanese influence. In October 1897, King Gojong returned to Gyeongungung (modern-day Deoksugung). There, he proclaimed the founding of the Korean Empire.In South Korea, there has been renewed interest in Empress Myeongseong due to popular novels, a film, a TV drama and even a musical based on her life story.