Gangwha Do.

This is coolbert:

From a comment to the blog

"Well I'm certainly relieved to discover that U.S. military intervention was to secure the strategically indispensable Shimonoseki Straits. Where would be today without them? U.S. military action in defense of non-vital interests, especially against a weaker power, appears to have an even longer history than I had suspected." - - Anonymous.

Korea the Hermit Kingdom also during that same approximate time period subjected to punitive expeditions and conflict with the various "western" powers to include the United States.

"The United States expedition to Korea, the Shinmiyangyo, or simply the Korean Expedition, in 1871, was the first American military action in Korea."

"It took place predominantly on and around the Korean island of Ganghwa. The reason for the presence of the American naval force in Korea was to support an American diplomatic delegation sent to establish trade and political relations with the peninsular nation, to ascertain the fate of the merchant ship General Sherman, and to establish a treaty assuring aid for shipwrecked sailors . . . The isolationist nature of the Joseon Dynasty government and the assertiveness of the Americans led to a misunderstanding between the two parties that changed a diplomatic expedition into an armed conflict. On 10 June [1871], about 650 Americans landed and captured several forts, killing over 200 Korean troops with a loss of only three American dead."

Foreign intervention in Korea not isolated to merely American military action.

Think also the French and British active in the area, responding with force as a reaction to endangered national interests as perceived.

coolbert.