was an agreement signed between the Empire of Japan

Empire of Japan

The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...

 and the Empire of Russia

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

 on April 25, 1898 concerning disputes over Korea

Korea

Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

.

With Japan's victory in the First Sino-Japanese War

First Sino-Japanese War

The First Sino-Japanese War was fought between Qing Dynasty China and Meiji Japan, primarily over control of Korea...

, and increasing influence in domestic Korean politics, tensions continued to rise between Japan and Russia over political and economic control of Korea. The Agreement was signed in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

 by Japanese Foreign Minister

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Japan)

The of Japan is the Cabinet member responsible for Japanese foreign policy and the chief executive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.Since the end of the American occupation of Japan, the position has been one of the most powerful in the Cabinet, as Japan's economic interests have long relied on...

 Baron Nishi Tokujirō

Nishi Tokujiro

Baron was a statesman and diplomat in Meiji period Japan.- Biography :Nishi was from a samurai family of the Satsuma domain . After the Meiji Restoration, he joined Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the new Meiji government, and was sent as a student to study the Russian language in St Petersburg,...

, and Russian Foreign Minister Baron Roman Romanovich Rosen

Roman Rosen

Baron Roman Romanovich Rosen was a diplomat in the service of the Russian Empire.-Biography:Rosen was from a long line of russified Baltic German nobility that included musicians and military leaders...

. Under the terms of the Agreement, both nations agreed to refrain from interfering in domestic Korean politics, and to seek prior approval from each other before sending any military or financial advisors at the request of the Korean government. Russia pledged not to obstruct Japanese investment in the commercial and economic development of Korea, thus explicitly acknowledging Korea to be within Japan's sphere of influence

Sphere of influence

In the field of international relations, a sphere of influence is a spatial region or conceptual division over which a state or organization has significant cultural, economic, military or political influence....

. In return, Japan implicitly recognized Russia's sphere of influence over Manchuria

Manchuria

Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...

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