Sangsul Yi (

Jincheon County Jincheon County (''Jincheon-gun'') is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, county in Chungcheongbuk-do (North Chungcheong) Province, South Korea. Location Jincheon belongs to the middle of Chungcheongbuk-do. It borders several cities of its ...

, December 7, 1870 –

Ussuriysk Ussuriysk (russian: Уссури́йск) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Primorsky Krai, Russia, located in the fertile valley of the Razdolnaya River, north of Vladivostok, the administrative center of the krai, and about ...

, April 1, 1917), also known as Yi Sang-seol, was a

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

n civil servant and independence activist.

Life

Sangsul Yi was born in

Jincheon Jincheon County (''Jincheon-gun'') is a county in Chungcheongbuk-do (North Chungcheong) Province, South Korea. Location Jincheon belongs to the middle of Chungcheongbuk-do. It borders several cities of its province but also meets Gyeonggi-do. The ...

(진천) in the province of

Chungcheong Chungcheong (''Chungcheong-do''; ) was one of the eight provinces of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty. Chungcheong was located in the southwest of Korea. The provincial capital was located at Gongju, which had been the capital of the kingdom o ...

and was sprung from a Yi Haeng-u's loin. He was famous for his brightness, so in 1876, at the age of 7, he was adopted into Yi Yong-u's family and he relocated to

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

. In 1896, he became a professor of

Seonggyungwan Sungkyunkwan was the foremost educational institution in Korea during the late Goryeo and Joseon Dynasties. Today, it sits in its original location, at the south end of the Humanities and Social Sciences Campus of Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul ...

. In 1904, when the

Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent fo ...

demanded the reclamation right of wasteland, he made an appeal to the king to refuse that. In 1905, at that time of

Japan–Korea Treaty of 1905 The Japan–Korea Treaty of 1905, also known as the Eulsa Treaty, Eulsa Unwilling Treaty or Japan–Korea Protectorate Treaty, was made between the Empire of Japan and the Korean Empire in 1905. Negotiations were concluded on November 17, 19 ...

, he made an appeal to the king to oppose the treaty and execute the

Five Eulsa Traitors The Five Eulsa Traitors refer to the five officials serving under Emperor Gojong who signed the Eulsa Treaty of 1905, which made Korea a protectorate of Japan. The five officials were Education Minister Yi Wan-yong, Army Minister Yi Geun-taek ...

times. However, he left office and attempted suicide. From then on, he take the initiative in restoring national right and patriotic enlightenment movement. In 1907 he and his compatriots

Yi Tjoune Yi Tjoune (December 18, 1859 – July 14, 1907), also known as Yi Jun (이준), was a Korean prosecutor and diplomat and the father of the North Korean politician Lee Yong. Early life and education Yi Tjoune was born in Bukcheong in the pro ...

and Tjyongoui Yi were delegated by

Emperor Gojong Gojong (; 8 September 1852 – 21 January 1919) was the monarch of Korea from 1864 to 1907. He reigned as the last King of Joseon from 1864 to 1897, and as the first Emperor of Korea from 1897 until his forced abdication in 1907. He is known ...

to attend the

Second Hague Peace Conference The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 are a series of international treaty, treaties and declarations negotiated at two international peace conferences at The Hague in the Netherlands. Along with the Geneva Conventions, the Hague Conventions w ...

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

. He was commissioned to announce to the international community that Korea was an independent state and that the Japanese invasion was unlawful. The trio traveled for two months on the

Trans-Siberian Railway The Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR; , , ) connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway line in the world. It runs from the city of Moscow in the west to the city of Vladivostok in the ea ...

to The Hague. The Korean delegation was not officially invited, although the Netherlands initially had planned. However, the Japanese government was able to step in and succeeded in convincing the other delegates of the conference not to let Korea participate. The mission had already failed. However, the three Koreans succeeded in receiving worldwide attention due to a press conference and receiving attention in an independent newspaper which covered the Peace Conference. The direct result of their mission was that the Korean Emperor, Gojong was forced to resign in favor of his son

Sunjong Sunjong, the Emperor Yunghui (; 25 March 1874 – 24 April 1926), was the second and the last Emperor of Korea, of the Yi dynasty, ruling from 1907 until 1910. Biography Crown Prince of Korea Sunjong was the second son of Emperor Gojong a ...

. In 1910, Yi founded ''13 douigun'' (13도의군), troops against

, with

Yoo In-seok Yoo may refer to: * Yoo (Korean surname), also spelled Ryu or Yu, a Korean family name * YOO, the IATA code for Oshawa Airport See also *You In Modern English, ''you'' is the second-person pronoun. It is grammatically plural, and was histor ...

Yi Beom-yun Yi or YI may refer to: Philosophic Principle * Yì (义; 義, righteousness, justice) among the 三綱五常 Ethnic groups * Dongyi, the Eastern Yi, or Tung-yi (Chinese: , ''Yí''), ancient peoples who lived east of the Zhongguo in ancient Ch ...

Yi Nam-gi Yi or YI may refer to: Philosophic Principle * Yì (义; 義, righteousness, justice) among the 三綱五常 Ethnic groups * Dongyi, the Eastern Yi, or Tung-yi (Chinese: , ''Yí''), ancient peoples who lived east of the Zhongguo in ancient Ch ...

to united loyal troops and deploy more effective war against Japan. In 1917, at the age of 47, he died in

(at that time, name was Nikolsk). He left a will, and the contents of the will were to burn his body and keepsakes and don't perform ancestral rites. As per his will, he and his library was burnt.

After Death

In 1962,

Government of South Korea The Government of South Korea is the union government of the Republic of Korea, created by the Constitution of South Korea as the executive, legislative and judicial authority of the republic. The president acts as the head of state and is th ...

conferred

Order of Merit for National Foundation The Order of Merit for National Foundation (Hangul: 건국훈장) is one of South Korea's orders of merit. It is awarded by the President of South Korea for "outstanding meritorious services in the interest of founding or laying a foundation for th ...

(Order of the President) in Yi to honor his meritorious deeds.

References

{{Authority control 1870 births 1917 deaths 19th-century Korean people 20th-century Korean people Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 Korean independence activists