The Kapsin Coup in 1884 was the first bourgeois reform in Korean history carried out by the Enlightenment Group.

   But for a long time this event was not estimated properly and was concealed in history and Kim Ok Gyun who led the coup was not judged rightly.

   In the past some people regarded the coup as a simple power struggle occurred in the Royal Court and branded Kim Ok Gyun as the pro-Japanese looking only at the surface of such contacts between the Enlightenment Group and the Japanese.

   But Chairman Kim Jong Il put to rights this issue establishing a Juche orientation and remaining faithful to the principle of historical truth and scientific accuracy in the early years.

   On May 6, Juche 52 (1963), the Chairman instructed students that the relation between the Enlightenment Group and the Japanese and the bourgeois character of the coup should be clarified in order to understand the whole aspect of the Kapsin Coup in 1884.

   He said the Enlightenment Group was weaker than the Conservative Group in power so without opening their heart they only took advantage of the Japanese army to modernize country. And it could be understood by historical facts that in those days of the coup the Enlightenment Group deployed their armed staff at four gates leading into the palace and deployed Japanese army outside the palace, he explained one by one.

   On their political programme, the Enlightenment Group presented points to retrieve Regent Taewongun who was kidnaped and taken to Qing dynasty during the Im-O Military Revolt in 1882 in the near future and to abolish “submitting tribute formalities” to Qing dynasty, and declared to abolish lineage and enact equal rights of people and to appoint talented men with abilities and the like. The Chairman said that this showed enough that the coup was not a simple power struggle occurred in the Royal Court but a bourgeois reform for modernization of the country.

   While he was guiding the students’ treatises on January 28, Juche 53 (1964), the Chairman taught that through “Company theory” and “Brief review of road construction” of Kim Ok Gyun we could know that he was an agitator of bourgeois reform worked for modernization of our country, not a pro-Japanese.

   Kim Ok Gyun tried to bring about the modern development by introducing the company system, he said, and this was the most reasonable way to develop large-scale capitalist enterprises under our country’s conditions in which capital reserves of individual capitalists were not big due to the immature development of capitalism.

   The Chairman continued that in “Brief review of road construction” Kim Ok Gyun acknowledged the development of transport as one of the essential point in state politics and as the standard to show the level of country’s development; criticized the feudal ruling circles having no interest in here; and suggested means to develop the transport and this showed enough of his stand to modernize the country.

   Though the Kapsin Coup in 1884 was failed as they didn’t draw on the strength of the popular masses and attempted bourgeois reform through reforming upper strata with some individual figures, he said, it clearly proved that our country had been advancing continuously along the law-governed road of its development in the throes of incompetence of the feudal ruling circles and aggression and intervention of the outside forces.

   Thus, under the wise leadership of Chairman Kim Jong Il, Kim Ok Gyun, who was to be branded as Pro-Japanese and concealed as a reactionary in history, recovered his figure as a pioneer of bourgeois reform movement and the lawful road of modern history of development of Korea came to be appreciated rightly.