Wu, Prince of Korea

Infobox Korean name
hangul=이우
hanja=李鍝
rr=I U
mr=I U

Prince Wu of Korea (1912-1945), was the 4th head of Unhyeon Palace and a member of the Imperial family of Korea. He was born the second son of Prince Gang, the fifth son of Emperor Gojong.

At the age of five, he was adopted to be the heir of deceased Prince Jun (or "Prince Yeongseon", 永宣君李埈 "yeong seon gun i jun"), the 3rd head of Unhyeon Palace and the only son of the elder brother of Emperor Gojong, Prince Hui (or "Prince Heung", 興親王李熹 "heung chin wang i hui" or "Yi Jaemyeon, Prince Wanheung of Korea", 完興君李載冕 "wan heung gun i jae myeon"). He was taken to Japan shortly afterwards in pretence of educational purposes.

However, unlike his elder brother, Prince Geon (李鍵 이건 "i geon"), he maintained his integrity as a Korean, despite his Japanese education. This made him the favourite son of his father, Prince Gang, who himself attempted to escape from Korea to join the exiled Korean Government. He overcame all attempts by the Japanese to marry him off to a minor Japanese noble, and married Lady Park Chan-ju, a granddaughter of Marquis Park Yeong-hyo who was a husband of Princess Yeonghye of Korea. They had two children, Yi Chung (李淸 이청 "i cheong") (born 23 April 1936) and Yi Jong (李淙 이종 "i jong") (born 9 November 1940 - death).

Prince Wu was forced to serve in the Japanese Army stationed in China. Commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the 1930s, he was promoted to Major by 1943 and Lieutenant-Colonel in 1944. While in China, he is reputed to have supported the guerilla resistance movement by exiled Korean and Chinese people. He also supposedly fathered a child with Yu Jung-soon in 1943, the daughter of General Yu Dong-ryul, a minister in Korean Provisional Government in exile. The child, named Yi Chonam, asserted and still asserts the parentage of Prince Wu, though Princess Wu refused to recognise him during her lifetime.

Prince Wu was restationed to Hiroshima in 1945, and on 6 August, 1945, he was severely injured by the atomic bomb blast on the way to his office, and died later that day at a medical aid station. He was posthumously promoted to the rank of Colonel. Aftrer his funeral, Adjutant Lieutenant Colonel Yoshinari Hiroshi (吉成 弘) made seppuku, accounted for not to save Prince Wu. Thereafter his body was moved to Korea and was buried in Hongneung Imperial tomb on 15 August, the day was end of the War.

ee also

*List of Korea-related topics
*Korea under Japanese rule
*Korean Imperial Household