Pak Chesoon even declared that he would rather commit suicide if Japan forced him to sign the treaty.
The Japanese government forced Prime Minister Han to step down and installed Pak in his place.
Widespread public dissatisfaction at the treaty was directed at the five ministers, and an "assassination group" was formed targeting the five.
On December 6, 1905, one Korean Army soldier attempted to shoot Pak Chesoon as he was entering the palace.
In 2005, the Research Center for National Issues [ko] identified the names of the five officials responsible for the Eulsa Treaty, as part of its efforts to compile a directory of individual Koreans who had collaborated with the Japanese before and during its colonial rule.