Show SEOUL THE STORM CENTER OF WORLDWIDE WORLD WIDE INTRIGUE tokio correspondence 21 via san francisco barcli 9 the first bank note difficulty which threatened serious complications between korea and japan lud hardly been settled with the of korea owing to firm attitude of japan when another complication arose this took the form of a russian demand for a concession io lay the projected railway between seoul and eiju a purely line the conces bion was pressed on tho ground that A had been granted japan alie demand naturally considerable indignation in japan though some publicists profess that it was merely mude as a bluff io forestall possible demand by japan for alie same loae ne a quid pro quo for the late first bank note prohibition however this may be it ia announced today that korea lias rejected the russian demand this incident is another piece of evidence that korc is the storm center of alie far east and it will require the keenest watchfulness on the part of rep rec natives of all the powers to maintain peace it is understood dr alien the united St minister et seoul has consider ablo influence with the court though nt the prewit moment an ashgan woman ay birth ond a russian by sympathy Is eaid to exert most potent sway over the emperor yi a ik who waa recently dismissed and later reinstated in 1 former office is believed to have strong pro russian and a proportion ale anti japanese bias these rumors must however bo received with reserve as it it notoriously difficult to penetrate the mysteries of the perpetual intrigue roine on at the seoul court hh imperial highness prince komatsu nn uncle of the mikado pass cd away wednesday |