Grave robbing: an effort to open Korea to the West

One of the earliest attempts to open Korea to the West was the failed grave-robbing attempt by a French priest and a German businessman in 1868.  The two of them put together a multi-national expedition to dig up the bones of the Korean regent’s father to hold as hostage until he agreed to open Korea to the West.

I have always liked this description of their attempt to open the tomb while a crowd of angry Koreans prepared to attack:

“As spadeful after spadeful of earth was removed by the shaking hands of the frightened coolies, shouts, hisses and oaths went up from the maddened crowd.” Oppert and Feron urged on the frightened Chinese “grave-diggers with promises of rewards as well as with the invigorating butt-ends of their rifles.”

You can read the rest of the article here….at Korea Times.

I visited the tomb a couple of months ago and found it to be extremely beautiful – and was really surprised to find the hearse used to carry the body to the tomb.  For the most part everything was well maintained – although the building with the hearse could definitely use some work and needs some signs to indicate its location.  I was, however, disappointed with the information board.  Not only was the English description poorly worded, it was historically inaccurate.  For that matter, so was the description in Korean.

I would like to do a series of articles on these lesser known sites and especially those that are inaccurate or misleading and would appreciate any suggestions you might have.

I am kind of curious about this little pagoda.

It is truly a beautiful place and if you get a chance I encourage you to visit it.