[KS] Hermit Country?

[George Kallander]

Dear Members,

We might not need to include Mongolia in a discussion concerning shipwrecked
sailors for obvious reasons, but I do agree that Mongolia should be included
in any reference to "Northeast Asia."  

Sincerely,
George Kallander

-----Original Message-----
From: Koreanstudies-bounces at koreaweb.ws
[mailto:Koreanstudies-bounces at koreaweb.ws] On Behalf Of Stefan Ewing
Sent: Thursday, August 04, 2005 10:27 AM
To: Koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws
Subject: Re: [KS] Hermit Country?

Dear list members:

B.C.A. Walraven wrote, "By standard East Asian practice I intended to say 
China, Korea and Japan. I have no idea what Vietnamese practice was in such 
cases."

Perhaps "Northeast Asian" would be more apt?  (Although to be pedantic, we 
should then include Siberia and Mongolia.  "CJK" might fit best, but it's 
rather too slangy and contemporary....)

With kind regards,
Stefan Ewing

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Excuse me, but what is "standard East Asian Practice"? Do you mean Vietnam,
too?

----- Original Message -----
From: "Walraven, B.C.A." <B.C.A.Walraven at let.leidenuniv.nl>
Date: Wednesday, August 3, 2005 9:38 am
Subject: Re: [KS] Hermit Country?

> Recently Scott Burgeson in his discussion of the Hermit Kingdom issue 
> has stated that "it was official policy to detain permanently foreign 
> (mainly non-Chinese and non-Japanese) sailors who were shipwrecked on 
> Korean shores so that they could not return to their native lands and 
> disseminate information about Korea (and thus attract more unwanted 
> visitors)". It is of course true that Weltevree and Hamel and his 
> companions were held in Korea for a long time (although hardly "in 
> captivity" as they enjoyed considerable freedom), but this was not 
> official policy. It was standard East-Asian practice to return 
> shipwrecked sailors to their home country and this argument was used 
> to good effect in the successful negotiations between the Japanese and 
> the Koreans about the return of the sailors who remained in Korea 
> after Hamel had made his escape. See the chapter by W.J. Boot about 
> these negotiations in "The World of Hendrik Hamel" ed. by Vibeke 
> Roeper and myself (Amsterdam: SUN publishers, 2003).