Mokpo National Maritime University Professor Ko Gwangseop: "Yi Sun-sin Did Not Refuse King Seonjo's Battle Order"

Paper Challenging Existing Theories Published on the 476th Anniversary of Admiral Chungmugong Yi Sun-sin's Birth

Professor Ko Gwangseop, Department of Naval Science, Mokpo National Maritime University

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Seo Young-seo] Ahead of the 476th anniversary of Admiral Chungmugong Yi Sun-sin's birth (April 28), a newly published paper claiming that "Yi Sun-sin did not actually disobey King Seonjo's order to deploy troops just before the Jeongyu War" has become a hot topic.

This study overturns the existing theory that "Yi Sun-sin did not carry out the deployment due to reasons such as the sea route being perilous and the threat along the deployment route being high" just before the Japanese invasion during the Jeongyu War.

Professor Ko Gwang-seop of the Naval Officer Department at the National Mokpo Maritime University (President Park Seong-hyun) argued in his paper titled "A Study on King Seonjo's Deployment Order, Yi Sun-sin's Willingness to Deploy, and the Reasons for Inability to Deploy during the Jeongyu War Period," published in the April issue of the Journal of the Korean Naval Science Society, that contrary to what has been known based on the Seonjo Revised Annals, "it is difficult to view Yi Sun-sin's failure to deploy in response to King Seonjo's order before the Japanese invasion as an excuse for inability or as a refusal to deploy."

The article dated February 1, 1597, in the Seonjo Revised Annals, completed about 60 years after Yi Sun-sin's death, records that despite King Seonjo's deployment order just before the Jeongyu War, Yi Sun-sin did not carry out the deployment, citing reasons such as "the sea route being perilous and the Japanese enemy surely setting ambushes and waiting. If many warships are dispatched, the enemy will know, and if few are dispatched, they will be attacked."

This led to the belief that Yi Sun-sin refused to deploy.

Through the published paper, Professor Ko Gwang-seop confirmed through historical document analysis that Yi Sun-sin had a very strong willingness to deploy, even requesting deployment from King Seonjo before the Japanese invasion, that there was no reasonable basis for Yi Sun-sin to reverse his deployment request, that King Seonjo's deployment approval order arrived late to Commander Yi Sun-sin, and that despite the threats and enemy forces around the deployment route being stronger after the invasion than before, Yi Sun-sin proceeded with deployment to the Busan waters.

Professor Ko said, "Since my youth as a cadet at the Naval Academy, I have had reasonable doubts about the perception that Yi Sun-sin, the Commander of the Three Provinces Naval Forces, refused the deployment order from the king, the supreme commander of the national military during wartime, and I thought there must have been other unavoidable issues," adding, "This doubt has become a lifelong research topic."

He added, "I hope this paper will serve as an opportunity to activate more in-depth and broad related research."

Professor Ko Gwang-seop began serious research on Yi Sun-sin while serving as a professor at the Naval Academy and after retiring as a Navy Colonel, currently serving as a professor in the Naval Officer Department at the National Mokpo Maritime University.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.