According to Walter Hillier, the British consul to Korea from 1889 to 1896, Korean's scholar gentry, called yangban, “are invested with certain rights and immunities, and it is an offence against the law for a plebeian even to use rude language towards them, much less assault them. Their pride is proverbial, and they are most jealous of their dignity and rights.” On June 6, 1889, while out on an errand, Kim Chang-yo, the head servant at the French Legation, committed the heinous crime of voyeurism. According to the secretary of the American Legation, as Kim passed the residence of a yangban, Soh Piang-so, he looked over the wall and “beheld with profane eyes the ladies of the noble household, a crime than which there is none greater in the Corean calendar.” Kim, “having been discovered in the act of his offending,” was scolded by one of Soh’s house servants. Rather than apologize for his brazen act, Kim cursed at the servant. The nobleman was beyond words and patience; he immediately ordered the voyeur seized and soundly beaten. When Kim spoke in a rude manner, the noblema