Foreign relations of Meiji Japan to recognize Korean independence, and later that year, Japanese agents would assassinate Korea's anti-Japanese Queen Min. Ironically, a decade after the Treaty of Shimonoseki had forced China to recognize Korean independence, Japan, in the wake of the Russo-Japanese War, effectively forced Korea to sign the Eulsa Protective Treaty, which made Korea a protectorate of Japan. In 1910, Korea was formally annexed to the Japanese empire, beginning a period of Japanese colonial rule of Korea that would not end until 1945. In 1871, despite Chinese consternation over Japan asserting its control over the Ryukyu Islands the previous year, China and Japan
Postage stamps and postal history of Germany for the various colonial territories which had a uniform appearance depicting the imperial yacht "SMY Hohenzollern". After Germany lost control of its colonies in the course of World War I, overprinted yacht stamps were temporarily used by the new colonial rulers. Imperial Germany maintained post offices in certain towns in Morocco, Turkey, and China. Issued stamps can be recognized by the cancellation stamp or the overprint may show local denomination and the name of the country. During World War I, German authorities issued stamps in occupied countries, namely Belgium, Poland, Romania, and areas of the western and eastern front. The