Korea under Japanese rule was the culmination of a process that began with the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876, whereby a complex coalition of Meiji government, military, and business officials sought to integrate Korea both politically and economically into the Empire of Japan, first as a protectorate through the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1905, and then officially annexed in the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910. Japan brought to a close the Joseon period and Korea officially became an integral part of Imperial Japan.