Oppert’s Grave Robbery Attempt

Refused trade, the German merchant Ernst Oppert tried and failed to dig up the tomb of the Daewongun’s father, hardening Korea’s refusal of the West.

Oppert had come to the Chungcheong coast twice in 1866 to ask for trade and been refused. In April 1868, with the American Jenkins and the French missionary Féron, he landed secretly at Deoksan in Chungcheong and dug into the tomb of Prince Namyeongun below Mount Gaya. He meant to hold the remains hostage to bargain with the Daewongun over trade, but the tomb was too solid and he withdrew.

Desecrating an ancestor’s grave outraged Confucian Korea and deepened the view of Westerners as barbarians. Three years later, after the United States expedition, the Daewongun set up anti-Western steles across the country.