Picture of Joseon's young Prince Yi Kang found

A new picture of young Prince Yi Kang (1877-1955) was found. Prince Yi was the fifth son of Emperor Gojong and was the most active in the anti-Japanese movement in the royal family.

This picture was found in a Russian newspaper, "Novoe Vremya (New Age)," published on Nov. 1, 1903 in Saint Petersburg. A caption writes, "A Prince of Joseon who lived in Japan and now studies in the U.S." Judging by his traditional hat and clothes, the picture could be taken in Korea before he went to the U.S in 1897.

"Novoe Vremya was subscribed by Russian emperors and used as reference when officers wrote reports on pending issues," said Kim Young-soo, director of Dokdo Research Institute of the Northeast Asian History Foundation (NAHF), who released the photo. Kim explained, "It seems like right before the Russo-Japanese War when Russia was paying attention to Prince Yi as a potential successor of Emperor Gojong."

Prince Yi visited Britain, the U.S., Russia, Italy, and Austria as an ambassador extraordinaire in 1895. Later, he studied at Ohio Wesleyan University and Roanoke College in Virginia.

After the March First Movement, he tried to exile in November 1919 with leaders of Daedongdan, an anti-Japanese organization led by Jeon Hyeop, to Shanghai where the Provisional Government of Korea was located. They made it to Andong (current Dandong) in disguise but got caught by the Japanese police.

After the failure, he wrote a letter to the provisional government that said, "I will join the provisional government to revenge death of Emperor Gojong and Empress Myeongseong and contribute to the independence of my country and world peace."

조종엽기자 jjj@donga.com