Yi Seok


Yi Seok is a member of the House of Yi, the former royal house of Joseon and Korean Empire. He is the 10th son of Prince Yi Kang, the fifth son of Emperor Gojong of Korea, and one of his partners, Lady Hong Chŏng-sun, a former telephone operator. In his earlier life, Yi gained fame as a singer, the "singing prince", with a 1967 album "Pigeon House". Since 2004, he has been employed by the city of Jeonju to promote tourism, and he is also a professor of history at Jeonju University.
As an activist on monarchy restoration, Yi Seok promotes his concept regarding the creation of a constitutional monarchy while co-existing with the Presidential system, making the restoration of the Imperial family as a symbolic existence.As such, Yi Seok founded an organization "Korean Imperial Family Cultural Foundation" in August 2006. Yi Seok's guesthouse, as well as his residence, "SeungKwangJae" in Jeonju Hanok Village, was once visited by the former president Roh Moo-hyun, the President Moon Jae-in with his wife, as well as Park Won-soon and Harry B. Harris Jr.
In May 2016, Yi Seok became the brand ambassador of the Liancourt Rocks by Ulleung County.

Biography

Early life

Yi Seok was born in Korea under Japanese rule, on 30 August 1941. By the time, his father Yi Kang was already 62 while his mother, Lady Hong was 19. The place he was born, Sadong Palace, was lost after 1945. The rising of the Syngman Rhee government also caused many of their family properties to be confiscated. After the outbreak of the Korean War, Yi Seok and his family had to leave their residence in Samcheong-dong and lived in poverty.
At the beginning of the era of Republic of Korea, the Imperial family was banished from the Imperial palace, but their life became better after the president Park Chung Hee gained power. When studying Hankook University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, Yi Seok learned foreign languages, principally Spanish, as well as foreign relations and history, becoming fluent in them, and he prepared himself for the diplomatic service. A series of coup d'état and civil discord rendered that impossible. Meanwhile, he had an talent for entertaining, becoming a well known singer and professional musician in the 1960s while in his twenties, having several hit songs. Later, Yi Seok volunteered for the Korean military and served as an enlisted man in the Vietnam War. During the war, Yi Seok wounded and needed to return to Korea, and around the same time, his mother died of stomach cancer. Yi Seok was then 26 and attempted suicide for nine times. After President Park was assassinated in 1979, the subsidy from the government is discontinued, and Yi Seok tried various jobs to support himself. In 1980s, he moved to the United States as an illegal immigrant, doing jobs including lawn mowing, cleaning swimming pools and buildings. At the same time, he attempted to retrieve family properties seized by the republic, which is now irretrievable under post-war Korean law. With the changing political climate in the early 1990s, Yi Seok returned to Korea. Yi Seok's past was made into a dramatic semi-fictional TV programme on the Korean Broadcasting System.

Recent activities

In April 2004, his eldest daughter, Yi Hong performed for the first time in a singing show from SBS, and Yi Seok starred on stage with her as celebration. By August of the same year, Yi Seok started to run a guesthouse "SeungKwangJae" in Jeonju Hanok Village, which is also his current residence. The name reference of the guesthouse is the era name of Emperor Gojong, Kwangmu, and seung stands for "succession". In fact, "SeungKwangJae" is a place rent by the government of Jeonju and it was built in wood similar to the traditional way and Yi Seok runs the place with his supporters. He said, "There are many things to do in Jeonju since this is where the Joseon dynasty founded. I'm going to spread the culture of the royal family and re-illuminate Jeonju's history."
On 16 July 2005, Yi Seok's cousin Yi Ku passed away without an heir, and the Jeonju Lee Royal Family Association announced, on July 22, that Yi Won would become Yi Ku's successor according to his will. During the funeral, Yi Seok was angered by the decision and commented that "the funeral is yet ended, and it's inappropriate to discuss about adopting an heir by now". Later, Yi Seok claimed that "adopting a son after death doesn’t make any sense," and he also claimed that Yi Bangja, his late aunt and the mother of Yi Ku, named him as "first successor" in her will. In August 2006, for the purpose of monarchy restoration, Yi Seok founded the organization "Korean Imperial Family Cultural Foundation" and acted as its director. On the other hand, Yi Hae-won, one of his elder half-sisters, self-proclaimed as an empress and held a coronation on 29 September 2006; Yi Seok was invited but he didn't attend the ceremony.
, Seoul
The Statue of King Sejong in Gwanghwamun Plaza was erected on 9 October 2009, and Yi Seok attended the unveiling ceremony. According to a talk on 4 September 2014, Yi Seok revealed that there's no existing contemporary portrait of Sejong the Great, and the appearance of the statue was based on the faces of Yi Seok himself and that from the portrait of Grand Prince Hyoryeong, King Sejong's older brother, which is now preserved at Gwanaksan.
On 7 August 2018, Harry B. Harris Jr., the United States Ambassador to South Korea, paid a visit to SeungKwangJae. The mayor of Jeonju, Kim Seung-su, said, "The prince is our history and our spirit. I would like to express my deep gratitude to the ambassadors for visiting this symbolic space."
On October 6, 2018, Yi declared Andrew Lee, a distant Korean-American relative and an entrepreneur, to be the "Korean Crown Prince".

Family

After divorcing with his previous four ex-wives, Yi Seok's current spouse is said to be 18 years younger than him. In his previous marriages, he has two daughters:

Ancestry