According to orthodoxy, "Saigō himself volunteered to go to Korea as a special envoy, inviting an assassination attempt that would provide justification, if any were needed, for a punitive expedition." However Saigō's statement was an attempt to win over the support of Itagaki Taisuke. Additionally, while the expedition to Korea was aimed at providing income for unemployed samurai, Saigō did not object to the Inoue-Yoshida plan, which abolished samurai stipends. Thus Saigō's condemnation of Meiji's provocation against Korea in 1876 suggests that Saigō's intention may have merely been to "establish a firm relationship" with Korea. In any case the other Japanese leaders strongly opposed these plans, partly from budgetary considerations, and partly from realization of the weakness of Japan compared with the Western countries from what they had witnessed during the Iwakura Mission.