:Yi Wanyong

Yi Wanyong was born into the Ubong Yi clan ({{Korean|hangul=우봉 이씨|hanja=牛峰李氏|labels=no}}) to a poor aristocrat family in 1858, but grew up with a lot of support after he became the adoptive son of Yi Ho-jun, who was a friend of Heungseon Daewongun and an in-law. He learned English and theology at Yookyoung Park, went to the United States to live as a diplomat, and returned to Korea to serve as a pro-Russian politician until the 1896 Agwan Pacheon incident, where King Gojong and his crown prince took refuge at the Russian legation in Seoul. As Japan grew stronger, he became a pro-Japanese politician.{{Cite web|script-title=ko:이완용|url=https://terms.naver.com/entry.naver?cid=47306&docId=3560713&categoryId=47306&expCategoryId=47306|access-date=2021-05-30|website=terms.naver.com|language=ko}}

Yi was a founding member of the Independence Club established in 1896 and belonged to the "reform faction" which wanted to Westernize Korea and to open the country to foreign trade.{{Cite book|title=Korea: A Historical and Cultural Dictionary|last=Keith L. Pratt, Richard Rutt|publisher=Psychology Press|year=1999|isbn=9780700704637|pages=186}}{{Cite book|title=A History of Korea: From "Land of the Morning Calm" to States in Conflict|last=Kim|first=Jinwung|publisher=Indiana University Press|year=2012|isbn=9780253000781|pages=309}}

Yi was a prominent government minister at the time of Eulsa Treaty of 1905, and was the most outspoken supporter of the pact which made the Korean Empire a protectorate of the Empire of Japan, thus stripping it of its diplomatic sovereignty. Initially, all of the ministers were against signing the treaty. However, under threat of execution, five of the ministers signed the treaty. Yi was among the first to change his stance.{{Cite book |last=McKenzie |first=F.A. |title=Korea's Fight for Freedom |publisher=Fleming H. Revell Company |year=1920 |author-link=Frederick Arthur MacKenzie}}

The treaty was signed in defiance of Korean Emperor Gojong, and Yi is thus accounted to be the chief of five ministers (including Pak Che-soon, Yi Chiyong, Yi Geun-taek, Gwon Jung-hyeon) who were later denounced as the "Five Eulsa Thieves" in Korea.

Under Japanese Resident-General Itō Hirobumi, Yi was promoted to the post of prime minister from 1906 to 1910. Yi was instrumental in forcing Emperor Gojong to abdicate in 1907, after Emperor Gojong tried to publicly denounce the Eulsa Treaty at the second international Hague Peace Convention. In 1907 Yi was also chief amongst the seven ministers who supported the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1907, which further placed the domestic affairs of Korea under Japan's control, thus completing the colonisation of Korea by Japan. Yi is therefore also listed in Korea amongst the Seven Jeongmi Traitors.

In 1909, he was seriously injured in an assassination attempt by the "Five Eulsa Traitors Assassination Group". The incident happened on December 22, 1909, when he and other targeted officials were attending a memorial service in Jong-hyeon Catholic Church (present-day Myeongdong Cathedral) for the recently deceased King Leopold II of Belgium. The assassin, Lee Jae-myeong (이재명; 李在明, 1887–1910) caught wind and disguised himself as a chestnut vendor outside the church. At around 11:30 a.m., Yi Wanyong appeared and was heading towards his rickshaw when Lee Jae-myeong sprung into action, stabbing him three times with a knife while shouting 'Long Live the Independence of Korea'. The assassin was quickly subdued by Japanese police and was arrested with serious injuries; he would be sentenced to death.{{Citation |last=Jeong |first=Won-ok |script-title=ko:이재명 (李在明) |work=Encyclopedia of Korean Culture |url=https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0045731 |access-date=2025-02-26 |publisher=Academy of Korean Studies |language=ko}}

The assassination attempt left Yi Wanyong with a damaged left lung, causing him to suffer from pneumonia and lung diseases, which eventually became the cause of his death.{{Citation |last=Lee |first=Byeong-rye |script-title=ko:이완용 (李完用) |work=Encyclopedia of Korean Culture |url=https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0045234 |access-date=2025-02-26 |publisher=Academy of Korean Studies |language=ko}}{{Cite web |date=2008-12-18 |script-title=ko:한국 첫 흉부외과기록 발견…환자는 이완용 |url=https://www.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2008/12/18/2008121800191.html |access-date=2025-02-26 |website=The Chosun Ilbo |language=ko}}

File:General power of attorney to Lee Wan-Yong signed and sealed by Sunjong.jpg to Yi Wanyong signed and sealed by Sunjong.]]

In 1910, Yi signed the Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty by which Japan took full control over Korea, while Korean Emperor Sunjong refused to sign. For his cooperation with the Japanese, Yi is also listed in Korea amongst the eight Gyeongsul Traitors. He was rewarded with a peerage in the Japanese kazoku system, becoming a hakushaku (Count), in 1910, and was raised to the title of kōshaku (Marquis) in 1921. He died in February 1926, received a grand funeral with the Governor-General at that time, Saitō Makoto in attendance, and was posthumously awarded the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum.{{Cite web |date=2022-07-12 |title=Lee Wan-yong |url=https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%9D%8E%E5%AE%8C%E7%94%A8-17940 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220712075213/https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%9D%8E%E5%AE%8C%E7%94%A8-17940 |archive-date=2022-07-12 |access-date=2025-02-26 |website=Kotobank}}

Knowing that his grave would likely be vandalized because of his actions, Yi Wanyong chose a plot of forest land in Iksan, North Jeolla Province, as his final resting place because it would be difficult for people to find. He also made decoy graves in nearby mountains. However, his true grave was eventually found and was vandalized to the point that police officers were dispatched to guard the area during the Japanese colonial era. After liberation in 1945, his grave was trampled, and in April 1979 his great-grandchildren had his grave dug up, his body cremated and his ashes scattered in a nearby stream.{{Cite web |last=Kim |first=Seong-cheol |date=2011-09-19 |title=15. 이완용과 익산의 묘 터 |url=https://www.jjan.kr/article/20110918411826 |access-date=2025-02-26 |website=Jeonbuk Ilbo |language=ko}}{{Cite web |date=2004-08-13 |script-title=ko:<이완용, 첩첩산중 땅 왜 약탈했나> |url=https://n.news.naver.com/mnews/article/001/0000730658?sid=103 |access-date=2025-02-26 |website=Yonhap News Agency |language=ko}}{{Cite web |last=Heo |first=Seong-ho |date=2009-08-29 |script-title=ko:99년 전 매국노 이완용의 영욕 |url=https://www.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/08/29/2009082900337.html |access-date=2025-02-26 |website=The Chosun Ilbo |language=ko}} The coffin lid was bought for ₩50000 and burnt.{{Cite web |title=「이완용의 묘」 - 디지털익산문화대전 |url=https://www.grandculture.net/iksan/toc/GC07501351 |access-date=2025-05-24 |website=Encyclopedia of Korean Local Culture}}

Yi's name has become a byword for "traitor" in contemporary South Korea. Despite this, Philip Jaisohn's Tongnip sinmun never published any criticism against him.[http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=1918648 English JoongAng Ilbo] August 30, 2001

The South Korean Special law to redeem pro-Japanese collaborators' property was enacted in 2005 and the committee confiscated the property[http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200512/200512070026.html Committee OKs Seizure of Collaborators' Property] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080617232430/http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200512/200512070026.html |date=2008-06-17 }} The Chosun Ilbo, December 7, 2005 of the descendants of nine people that had collaborated with Japan when Korea was annexed by Japan in August 1910. Yi is one of those heading the list.[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CEFD8103EF930A35756C0A9619C8B63 South Korea: Crackdown On Collaborators]

The New York Times, December 24, 2007

• Father
• Ye Ho-seok ({{Korean|hangul=이호석|hanja=李鎬奭|labels=no}}) or Ye Seok-jun ({{Korean|hangul=이석준|hanja=李奭俊|labels=no}})
• Adoptive father - Ye Hyo-jun ({{Korean|hangul=이호준|hanja=李鎬俊|labels=no}}; 1821–1901)
• Mother
• Lady Shin ({{Korean|hangul=신씨|hanja=辛氏|labels=no}}; ?–1893)
• Adoptive mother - Lady Min of the Yeoheung Min clan; daughter of Min Yong-hyeon ({{Korean|hangul=민용현|hanja=閔龍顯|labels=no}}; 1786–?){{Efn|He is the 4th great-grandson of Queen Inhyeon's father, Min Yu-jung}}
• Wife and children
• Lady Jo of the Yangju Jo clan ({{Korean|hangul=양주 조씨|hanja=楊州 趙氏|labels=no}}); daughter of Jo Byeong-ik ({{Korean|hangul=조병익|hanja=趙秉翼|labels=no}})
• Son - Ye Seung-gu ({{Korean|hangul=이승구|hanja=李升九|labels=no}})
• Son - Ye Hang-gu ({{Korean|hangul=이항구|hanja=李恒九|labels=no}}; 1881–1945)

• Yi is portrayed by Woo Sang-jeon in the 2015 film Assassination.
• Yi is portrayed by Jung Seung-gil the 2018 South Korean television series Mr. Sunshine.

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}{{Traitors of Korean Empire}}{{Authority control}}

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Category:1858 births

Category:1926 deaths

Category:People from Seongnam

Category:Politicians from Gyeonggi Province

Category:Kazoku

Category:19th-century Korean people

Category:20th-century Korean politicians

Category:Government officials of the Korean Empire

Category:Political office-holders of the Korean Empire

Category:Joseon Kazoku