The Second Invasion of Korea, 1597–1598

Negotiations following the 1592 invasion had left Japanese garrisons in southern Korea. Ming demands for withdrawal and its offer of investiture did not meet Hideyoshi’s larger terms. After the 1596 embassy failed, he ordered another campaign in 1597, assigning forces to contingents and Korean coastal castles.

Japanese troops captured Namwon after surrounding its defenders and filling defensive obstacles with bundled vegetation. The Korean fleet suffered a major defeat under Won Gyun near Geoje. Yi Sun-sin returned to command, assembled surviving ships and won an engagement in the southwestern straits. The army advance and naval fighting affected different routes; neither eliminated Korean resistance or Ming participation.

Korean and Ming troops besieged Japanese coastal positions, including Katō Kiyomasa’s Ulsan stronghold. Water and food shortages threatened that garrison, but approaching relief helped force the besiegers to withdraw. Further attacks in 1598 failed to clear every Japanese castle. These positions sustained the occupation without enabling conquest of Korea or an advance into China.

Hideyoshi’s death in 1598 brought collective orders to withdraw. Fighting continued around Suncheon and the sea approaches during departure, and Yi died in the final naval campaign with Ming forces. The invasion ended with Japanese evacuation. Burned settlements, killing and captives taken to Japan left losses that evacuation could not repair; repatriation remained part of subsequent diplomacy.