Korea's unique battle flag

By Choe Chong-dae

I always feel sentimental and full of nostalgia towards a variety of cultural assets, even shards of pottery and a piece of a painting at home and abroad, whether they are valuable or not to the general public. They enshrine our ancestors' sacred spirit, wisdom and identity and represent the course of history.

Whenever I view Korean cultural artifacts at Korean galleries of foreign museums such as the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities in Stockholm, Sweden, the Museum of Ethnology in Leiden, the Netherlands and the British Museum in London, I would become full of emotion and reflect on our ancestors' way of life.

It is disheartening to learn that a great number of precious Korean cultural assets were taken out of the country during foreign invasions, such as the Mongolian invasion of Korea (1231-73), the Japanese invasion of Korea (1592-98), Byeongin-yangyo (French expedition to Korea in 1866) and Shinmiyangyo (the Invasion of the American Fleet in Korea in 1871).

When the Joseon Kingdom of Korea (1392-1910) was called the Hermit Kingdom, as at the time it was closed off to foreign nations, an armed U.S. Merchant Marine ship named the General Sherman entered the Daedong River near Pyongyang to force open trade with the country in 1866.

Due to insufficient communication, it ended up causing an armed conflict between the ship's crew and Korean soldiers, sacrificing the lives of several crew members of the ship. The ship was destroyed by the military of Korea and became stranded. The conflict is now known as the General Sherman Incident.

Five years after the encounter, a U.S. Navy ship named the Colorado landed on Ganghwa Island, Korea in 1871 in order to establish a trade treaty with Korea. However, due to communication failures again between the U.S. and the local government of Korea, clashes occurred in what is known in Korea as the Little War or the ``Shinmiyangyo'', the Invasion of the American Fleet in Korea in 1871. It resulted in a lopsided victory for the Americans.

As a token of the great victory, the U.S. Navy captured a distinctive trophy, a Korean yellow battle flag called “Sujagi” and other artifacts from Ganghwa Island. The battle flag had been flying atop a mountain fort and at the main gate of the barracks where the commanding general was located. It was a large yellow battle flag with unique Korean symbols, representing the authority of Korean General (Marshall) Eo Je-Yeon (1823-1871), commander of the garrison on Ganghwa Island who led the Korean forces bravely against the U.S. forces on the island. Despite the desperate fighting, he lost his life along with 430 Korean soldiers in the three-day battle.

After being taken to the U.S. with other war prizes, the iconic Korean flag was stored at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, in the U.S. for 136 years until it was returned to Korea. According to negotiations between the U.S and Korea, the flag was repatriated in 2007 to the National Palace Museum of Korea in Seoul on a loan basis. Following this, the flag was moved to Ganghwa Island where the “Little War” had taken place.

It is currently displayed at the Ganghwa History Museum. The lease period of the flag had been extended to the end of September 2022. I was concerned about the fate of the flag, which should not return to the U.S. However, to my delight, the loan period for the flag was renewed again until October 1, 2023, after negotiations with the U.S Naval Academy Museum.

More than a century and a half have passed since the Americans captured the battle flag of Korea, and I do hope that the “trophy” of Sujagi would be displayed in Korea permanently, contributing to the opening of a new era of friendship between the U.S. and the Korean people.

Choe Chong-dae (choecd@naver.com) is a guest columnist of The Korea Times. He is president of Dae-kwang International Co., and director of the Korean-Swedish Association.