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Person1859 – 1907

Yi Jun

Envoy to The Hague who died there after being refused a seat at the conference

A graduate of the law school, he served as an assistant prosecutor at the Hanseong court and was active in the Independence Club and the Assembly of Ten Thousand People. Around the time of the Eulsa Treaty he led enlightenment groups such as the Society for Constitutional Studies against Japanese aggression. In 1907, on Gojong's secret orders, he went to the Hague Peace Conference with Yi Sang-seol and Yi Wi-jong. After they were refused entry he died in The Hague in anguish. A story that he took his own life is widely told, but most scholars believe he died of illness.

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1 related event

  1. 1
    1907Secret Emissaries to The Haguediplomat

    Gojong sent Yi Sang-seol, Yi Jun and Yi Wi-jong to the Second Hague Peace Conference to declare the 1905 treaty void; Japanese obstruction and the indifference of the powers kept them out of the hall.

People who appear alongside

  • Yi Sang-seol1870 – 1917

    Chief envoy to The Hague who founded the Seojeon Seosuk school in Jiandao and led independence groups in the Russian Far East

  • Yi Wi-jong1887

    Envoy to The Hague who, fluent in foreign languages, gave the speech "A Plea for Korea" outside the conference

  • Gojong1852 – 1919

    Twenty-sixth king of Joseon and first emperor of the Korean Empire

  • Homer B. Hulbert1863 – 1949

    American teacher at Yugyeong Gongwon who wrote the Hangeul geography "Samin pilji" and, as Gojong’s secret envoy, protested the Eulsa Treaty and aided the Hague emissaries