[KS] Re: Draft for a Petition to Return General O^ Chae-yo^n's Banner toKorea

[Thomas Duvernay]

> Dear Thomas, Henny, and Other Interested Parties,
>
> How about including other items besides just the commander's flag?  Wasn't
> there also a fan on which the Korean defenders signed their names as a
> solemn oath before the engagement?

The main item that is of interest to Korea and Koreans is the flag.  Yes,
there were other 'war prizes' but they are minor compared with the flag
(I'll explain in a bit).  As for the fan, there is a fan in the same display
case as is the flag, in the US Naval Academy Museum; it is signed, but with
the names of the US participants, not Korean.  Gen. Uh's grandson asked me
the same question this past May at the general's jesa.  I only saw the one
fan.  Still, James Wardrop (Lt. McKee's great-great nephew) is going to
re-visit the Academy and take a picture of the fan.

Many other items were taken in 1871; they include cannon (bulangipo), flying
tiger gate flags (ho gi) and a few other items that were donated to
Transylvania University (Lexington, KY) by Lt. McKee's mother.  Those items
included a cannon, matchlock rifle (jo chong), books on ethics, soldier's
hat (or, possibly, 'gaht'), helmet (tugu), stuffed pheasant and a flag with
Chinese characters on it.  There was an article on them in the August 20,
1950 edition of the Lexington Herald-Leader (page 24), including a picture.
The problem with these last items is, the university lost them (I still
would like to know how you lose an eighty pound cannon).  I ordered a print
of the picture, which I will scan and put on the 1871 web site.

>
> As far as the potential signatories are concerned, I think the petition
> will indeed carry more weight if the signatories were all academics
> teaching at American institutions (including full professors, associate
> profs, assistant profs, lecturers, language lectors, etc.).  On the other
> hand, I wonder if the rubric of "Korean Studies community" that covers
> anyone interested in Korea would seem vague or even incomprehensible to
> the U.S. policy makers.  In that case we might as well go for a petition
> by signed by "all concerned Americans."  I think one can make a case for
> either one-that is, having only the American academics as the signatories
> (hopefully over a hundred) or obtaining a much larger number of signatures
> from the "American public" (perhaps in thousands).  I think both are
> feasible, given the medium of e-mail.

How about two petitions?  One could be academic-specific, and the other
general.  I don't think we could ever have too many.

>
> Here are some suggestions of mine on other specifics of the draft:
>
> > We, the undersigned, request that the United States government return
the
> > flag of General Uh Je-yeon [commander of Korean forces on Kanghwa Island
in
> > 1871] that was captured by US forces in 1871 and now resides in the
United
> > States Naval Academy Museum.
>
> Use "return to Republic of Korea ('Korea' hereafter)..."  Yes, I believe
> that "Korea" is more than just South Korea, but returning the objects to
> North Korea would be unrealistically difficult, if not impossible.

I agree.  Good suggestion.

>
> Is the Korean commander's name spelled "Uh Je-yeon" on the relevant U.S.
> records?  If so, then we should stick with it; if not, then perhaps we
> should use the standard McCune-Reischauer spelling ("O^ Chae-yo^n").

It's been spelled many different ways.  The problem with the M-R way is,
most people in the world don't know how it works and would be inclined to
pronounce his name 'Oh ch'ay-yahn'.  In all my correspondence with gov't
officials, I've used the former (Uh Je-yeon).

>
>
> > by today's standards, unacceptable.  The United States ships sailing up
the
> > Salt River (between Kanghwa Island and the Korean mainland) could be
> > compared to a foreign warship sailing up the Mississippi; the United
States,
> > no doubt, would have opposed such an action.
>
> I think a better analogy might read: "The United States ships entering the
> Kanghwa Strait only some [distance in miles] miles from Seoul is
> comparable to a fleet of foreign warships sailing into the Chesapeake
> Bay;"
>
> Sicnerely,
>
> Gene Park

Good suggestion, Gene.  Either would be fine to me.  Other members thoughts?

Thomas


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