By Via the Marmot’s Hole is an interesting story from the Washington Post about Korea’s “Singing Prince” if you haven’t heard of him before:
“Every night I dream of the palace days,” Yi Seok began, in sometimes hesitant English. We leaned in. This is what we’d come to hear — the tale of a fortunate son born too late.
Yi Seok’s life story is best known for its low point and his rebirth: After decades of struggle, including immigrating illegally to the United States, he returned to Korea only to become homeless. In 2004, a Korean reporter found him sleeping in an all-night bathhouse in Seoul and wrote about his plight. The city of Jeonju, seeking to promote tourism as the birthplace of the Joseon dynasty’s founder, gave him a house and a new job as a spokesman for the past.
Today he gives tours in Jeonju and speaks about royal history at universities around the country. He’s invited to wave to crowds at festivals and ribbon cuttings and to kick the first ball in soccer games. [Washington Post]
You can read the rest at the link, but he ultimately wants to have the monarchy re-established in Seoul in order to draw tourists. I don’t see it happening, but his family’s ancestral home land in Jeonju seems happy to sponsor him though.
She hasn’t seen...
1:30 am on June 23rd, 2011 1
One of commenter on the articled posted:
When the Japanese illegally colonized Korea, they also illegally took the money in the royal family’s bank account, thought to be safely hidden in the German bank. There are documentations recording this illegal transaction. They money is now estimated to be valued at over $2.5B accounting for inflation and interest.
No idea if true but had no idea.
5:39 am on June 23rd, 2011 2
Ironically, if it wasn’t for Japan nobody would be waxing nostalgic for the old monarchy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donghak_Peasant_Revolution
7:27 am on June 23rd, 2011 3
According to that article, bribery was one of the reasons for the uprising. It is good to know that Korea still has the same problem, so many years later. Ain’t tradition grand.
12:46 am on June 24th, 2011 4
Haha bribery has been instilled in all bureaucracies, Confucianism with its over-reliance on vertical organizations is worse. You have to bribe the police officer, so he can bribe the policy chief, so he can bribe the district attorney so he can bribe the chief of justice and so forth.
Would be interesting to see them re-establish their monarchy, without any political powers of course. Could be a figure-head type role.
11:13 pm on July 17th, 2011 5
I traveled to Jeonju last weekend and had the pleasure of meeting this gentleman. He was teaching school children about royal ceremonies and asked me to partake. great experience