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Blast from the Past
www.gwangjunewsgic.com
November 2020
blast from the past
The Legends of Yi Sun-shin and His Turtle Ships Anyone who has been in contact with Korean history for a day has become aware that Admiral Yi Sun-shin is considered to be Korea’s preeminent military hero and his “turtle ships” are considered to be the world’s first iron-clad ships. We know that legends have a tendency to grow with time: Did George Washington really chop his ▲ Portrait of Yi Sun- dad’s cherry tree with a new hatchet, shin. (Busan Cultural or did his biographer, Mason Locke Heritage Material No. 56) Weems, create the story for the fifth edition of his biography of Washington? Similarly, how much of the legend of Admiral Yi and his legendary turtle ships is based on fact? Andrew Volle addressed this in two past issues of the Gwangju News’ Behind the Myth column: “Admiral Yi Sun-shin” (October 2013) and “The Turtle Ship” (January 2014). — Ed.
ADMIRAL YI SUN-SHIN: TRUTH OR MYTH?
Admiral Yi Sun-shin (이순신) is Korea’s greatest example of heroism, but how much of his story is true? Without a doubt, his military accomplishments were real. As a commander of Korea’s navy during the Imjin War, the admiral won all 23 naval battles he fought from 1592 to 1598. Even his amazing victory at the Battle of Myeongnyang (명량, island off the coast Jindo Island), in which his 13 ships defeated 133 Japanese ships in 1597, is not questioned by historians. The man was a strategic genius. For his great contribution to winning the war that took his life, kings and scholars honored Admiral Yi for hundreds of years, but nobody considered him the perfect Korean. (Indeed, a superior officer once falsely charged Yi with desertion in battle, for which Yi was imprisoned and tortured.) After Japan finally took control of Korea in 1895, however, the impression of Yi began to change. Writers thought the people needed a good example to teach them how to fight off Japan. What better person could they choose than Yi, who helped save Korea from the last Japanese attacks? The writers made Yi more than just a war hero though. In The History of Joseon (조선상고사), Shin Chae-ho (신채호) told readers that Yi was “both a hero and a saint” sent by God. Later, Lee Gwang-su (이광수) wrote the long-running newspaper novel, “Yi Sun-shin,” to establish the admiral’s moral excellence. In the novel, Yi is almost a Korean Christ: a perfect but persecuted man
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who dies saving his stupid, evil people from themselves. Yi continued to be elevated after Japan’s WWII defeat in 1945. South Korea especially encouraged people to admire Yi during the military rule of President Park Chung-hee from 1963 to 1979. As a war hero, Yi was a great symbol for the army-controlled government. All this propaganda had the effect of greatly improving the drama of Yi’s story. In life, Yi sometimes filed exaggerated or false reports to the king, hoping to improve his name at the royal court. Today, Yi is known as a man motivated only by love for his country and men, and those who might become angry at Yi’s behavior are remembered as jealous, lying fools. People also think Yi was a genius at building ships, not only fighting with them; he is popularly (but wrongly) believed to have designed the world’s first war ship with iron armor: the turtle ship. The most dramatic change to Yi’s story is the idea that Yi chose to die in his final battle. Some say Yi preferred death than to be treated badly again by an unappreciative king, so he took off his armor. Others say he wanted to inspire his men, so he stood at his boat’s front. Everyone agrees that as he died, Yi asked for his death to remain secret until after the battle. The truth is, he might have. That is why historians need to rediscover the real Yi Sun-shin: He was neither the Buddha or a Genghis Khan, but behind Yi’s myth is a man worth knowing.
10/28/2020 10:49:23 AM
