Behind the Myth: Yi Sun-shin

Admiral Yi Sun-shin (이순신) is Korea’s greatest example of heroism, but how much of his story is true?

Without a doubt, his military accomplishments were real. As a commander of Korea’s navy during the Imjin War, the admiral won all 23 battles he fought from 1592 to 1598. Even his amazing victory at the Battle of Myeongsang, in which his 13 ships defeated 133 Japanese ships, is not questioned by historians. The man was a strategic genius.

For his great contribution to winning the war that took his life, kings and scholars honored Admiral Yi for hundreds of years, although nobody considered him the perfect Korean. After Japan finally occupied Korea in 1895, however, that began to change. Writers thought the people needed a good example to teach them how to fight off Japan. And what better person could they choose than Yi, who helped save Korea from the last Japanese attack?

Those writers made Yi into more than just a war hero, though. In “Great Historical Figures of Joseon,” Shin Chae-ho told readers Yi was “both a hero and a saint” sent by God. Later, Lee Gwang–su wrote “Yi Sun Sin” to establish the admiral’s moral excellence. In the book, Yi is almost a Korean Christ: a perfect but persecuted man who dies saving his stupid, evil people from themselves.

Yi continued to be elevated after Japan’s defeat in 1945. South Korea especially encouraged people to admire Yi during the military rule of President Park Chung-hee from 1963 to 1979. As a war hero, Yi was a great symbol for the army-controlled government.

All this propaganda had the effect of greatly improving the drama of Yi’s story. In life, Yi sometimes filed exaggerated or false reports to the king, hoping to improve his name at the royal court. Today, Yi is known as a man motivated only by love for his country and men, and anyone who became angry at Yi’s behavior is only remembered as a jealous, lying fool. People also think Yi was a genius at building ships, not only fighting with them; he is popularly (but wrongly) believed to have designed the world’s first ship with iron armor.

The most dramatic change to Yi’s story is the idea that Yi chose to die in his final battle. Nowadays many believe Yi preferred to die rather than to be treated badly again by an unappreciative king, so he took off his armor. Others say he wanted to inspire his men, so he stood at his boat’s front. Everyone agrees that as he died, Yi asked for his death to remain secret until after the fighting.

The truth is, he might have. That’s why historians need to rediscover the real Yi Sun-shin: exaggerating a real person’s accomplishments and virtues has the effect of robbing that person of the credit he or she is due. Yi Sun-shin wasn’t a perfect combination of the Buddha and Genghis Khan, but behind Yi’s myth is a man worth knowing.