Yi Jun Peace Museum in The Hague to Expand

Late independence fighter
Yi Jun

By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter

A museum dedicated to a Korean judge and diplomat in The Hague, Netherlands ― designated as a cultural heritage ― will expand and reopen, Lee Gi-hang, director of Yi Jun Academy, announced Tuesday.

The small-scale Yi Jun Peace Museum will almost triple in size with support from the Municipality of The Hague and the West-Holland Foreign Investment Agency, an authority which advises international companies on locating in the area. A billiard center located below the museum will close to make room for the expansion. It will reopen July 2009.

The museum pays homage to the late Yi Jun (1859-1907), a resistance fighter that opposed the Japanese colonization of Korea (1910-1945). He traveled to The Hague in the summer of 1907 as part of Korea's delegation to the Second Hague Peace Conference. Known as Hague Secret Emissary Affair, it was king Gojong's ― the last ruler of the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910) ― effort against Japan's aggression.

However, the previously signed Eulsa Treaty entitled Japan hegemony over Korea, and Yi and two other emissaries were barred from taking part of the conference. Yi protested and was later assassinated in his hotel.

Yi's place of death, Hotel De Jong, which has stood on Wagenstraat for over 300 years, transformed into a private museum in 1995 on the 50th anniversary of Korea's liberation. Director Lee, a Europe-based Korean businessman, founded the establishment. It houses Yi's handwritten documents and news article clippings from the time among other relics.

``The Hague City designated the building as a cultural heritage and funded 40 thousand of the 70 thousand euros necessary for the billiard center's move. However, we have to raise money for the renovation,'' Lee was quoted as telling Yonhap News.

Today, Yi is remembered as a national hero in both South and North Korea. Last year, the 100th anniversary of Yi's death was extensively commemorated in The Hague, according to The Hague administration Web site (www.denhaag.com).

For more information, visit www.yijunpeacemuseum.com or call 31-(0)70-3562510.

hyowlee@koreatimes.co.kr

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