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How I met Lee Wi-jong

It was a coincidence.

A professor I admired gave me a bunch of papers while I was preparing for my doctoral dissertation about 10 years ago. The document was about Koreans kept in the national historical archive in Khabarovsk, Russia, and he visited there to collect the documents himself. If you are a historian, you will very know well  how difficult it is to give the materials he/she collected to somebody else. But he gladly gave them to me without expecting anything in return. The total pages were almost 1,000 copies of paper  mostly written in Russian, although I was able to find some written in Korean. Some of them were hard to read due to poor handwriting. Overall, these documents contained the information barely known to historians in Korea.

I really appreciated his kindness and became passionate. First thing I did was to make a list. Then, I found a document. The document was dubbed as АВТОБИОГРАФИЯ Владимира Сергеевича И Члена Р.К.П(б) с 1918 г. and consisted of 3 sheets typed in Russian. It was a resume of ‘Vladimir Sergeyevich Li,’ meaning that the resume belonged to the ‘son of Sergeyevich with the sir name Li.’ The fact that he was a member of Russian SFSR (Bolshevik Communist) since 1918 was particularly interesting. It was 1918 when Kim Alexandra Petrovna, known as the first Korean Communist, joined the Bolsheviks. Thus, I became curious about him  as I wanted to know “more about who he was.” That was the moment I began to translate the document with a Russian-Korean dictionary.

The first line of his resume began with a sentence ‘I was a man of noble descent, born in a wealthy family in Seoul, Joseon, on January 9 1884.’ I was fascinated as I found more about him while translating his resume. When he was young, he came to the U.S. with his father and moved to Paris to graduate a military academy there and served as a second lieutenant. It was a pretty amazing and  I got to know him more deeply after the middle of the first page. It wrote, ‘delegated by the Joseon government and organizations to attend the Second Hague Peace Convention at The Hague in 1907.’

Yes. ‘Vladimir Sergeyevich Li’ was another name of Lee Wi-jong. For anyone who completed his/her former education leading to high school would know about the ‘envoy to the Hague’. Lee Wi-jong was one of them. If you know more about Korean history, you would know that he was a son of Lee Beom-jin, the last ambassador in Russia. A lot of questions popped up into my head such as, “Why was the resume of Lee Wi-jong included in the documents?”,  “Why was he named Vladimir Sergeyevich Li?”,  “Does it mean that his russian name is Vladimir Sergeyevich Li?”. My curiosity took over, and questions poured in.

I began to explore about Lee Wi-jong. Soon, I came to find materials about him and thesis of his great-grand-daughter Yulia Piskulova, a Russian historian, was included in the book titled ЛИБОМДЖИН(Lee Beom-jin), published in Russia in 2022. The book contained clues to presume the reason why Lee Wi-jong was called as ‘Vladimir Sergeyevich Li.’ Yulia Piskulova summarized his life in Russia until the Russian Revolution broke out in 1917. However, his resume recorded his background until October 1924. The following indicates his life up until that time.

Heading to Russia away from the U.S. and France

The emperor Gojong moved to the Russian Legation in February 1896, one year after the queen was assassinated inside the palace by Japanese killers. It was a palace revolution known as the Gonjong's internal exile to the Russian legation. Although the attempt ended in success, someone had to take the political responsibility. Lee Beom-jin known as one of the closest personals stood up to take the responsibility. He was appointed as the ambassador to the U.S. while the emperor was preparing for his return back to the palace. It was a form of demotion. Lee Wi-jong left his country with his father to the U.S. in July 1896. He was ten at that time. As the second son he followed his father  and Lee Ki-jong, the first son of Lee Beom-jin stayed behind in Seoul. It appeared that the reason why he decided to stay in Seoul was because not only was he already working for the government as an adult, but also had to take care of his family and perform ancestral rites. I guess that Lee Wi-jong never thought that he would not be able to return to his motherland.

After graduating from elementary school in the U.S. he moved to Paris again following his father, who was appointed as the plenipotentiary minister to Russia, France, and Austria in 1990. After graduating from an elite private school Lycée in Paris he entered Ecole Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr in 1902. Ecole Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr was a national military academy created by the order of Napoleon Bonaparte in the early 1800 and was known as a prestigious school. Charles DeGaulle, who later became the president of France, also graduated from. After graduating from Ecole Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr in 1904, he became a second lieutenant and appointed to lead the 151th regimental platoon in Paris. But soon, he moved to St. Petersburg, the capital of Russia where his father stayed, and began to serve as a diplomat of the Russian Legation. His life as a diplomat unfolded in full-swing.

The envoy to the hague Lee Wi-jong

After the Japan-Korea Treaty in 1905, Joseon lost its diplomatic right and became a protectorate. Embassies in Joseon had to be closed and the embassies of the Korean empire overseas also had to be withdrawn. Despite repeated request of the Japanese government, the Russian Legation resisted to shut down its door. Although it was illegal under the international laws, the Russian Legation continued its diplomatic activities of the Korean empire under the acquiescence of the Russian government. Such circumstances had continued until 1911 when the Ambassador Lee Beom-jin died for his country in 1911.

The Second Hague Peace Convention at The Hague was held in 1907. Lee Sang-sul and Yi Jun delegated by Emperor Gojong to attend the conference met in Vladivostok and arrived at St. Petesburg via the Trans-Siberian Express. They soon went to the Hague, the Netherlands, where the conference was held with Lee Wi-jong. Although Lee Sang-sul and Yi Jun was Jeongsa and Busa and they had higher ranks than Lee Wi-jong, it was him that carried out diplomatic activities mostly while the conference was held. It was natural as he spoke English and French fluently. Lee Wi-jong was engaged in diplomatic activities against the media. On July 9, he gave a speech titled, A Plea for Korea at the Association of Foreign Affairs in front of foreign journalists  and reiterated that the argument of Japan was nothing more than a fiction and stressed that people of Joseon were ready to fight against the Japanese oppression. However, their attempt ended in failure due to the interruption of Japan.

Later, he returned to St. Petersburg via the U.S. and went to Vladivostok by train to support the righteous army movement in the Russian Maritime Province. In April, 1908, he organized the Dongeuihoe (Association of Comrades) along with Choi Jae-hyung, Lee Beom-yun, and An Jung-geun, etc.  and the Dongeuihoe had formed the righteous army soon after. There was Lee Wi-jong behind the righteous army of the Maritime Province that fought hard against the Japanese Army along the border area for about a month as the righteous army advanced to Joseon in July the same year. However, they lost the battle and Lee Wi-jong had a conflict with Lee Beom-jun. So, he returned to St. Petersburg after receiving a telegram from his father.

Marriage

He fell in love with a beautiful Russian woman, while serving as a diplomat in Russia. Her name was Elizabeta Noelke, a daughter of a baron serving as a Swedish diplomat. They fell in love at first sight immediately after meeting at a party for the diplomatic family and promised to marry each other. But many obstacles awaited them.

First, they had to receive permits from their parents. Although he was a diplomat of a failing country, he was also a noble man of Joseon. It was certain that his marriage to a woman with blue eyes would not be accepted easily, even though he was the second son of his family. However, they could not win their son. It might be that they considered that getting related through marriage with a Russian aristocrat was a great idea as they would not likely to return to Joseon. Ultimately, Lee Beom-jin wrote a letter to the Russian foreign minister to find ways to allow  his son to marry her.

There was another obstacle to their marriage. Religion was an obstacle. He had to convert to the Russian Orthodox to marry a daughter of Russian aristocrat. Lee Beom-jin helped his son again. He wrote again to the Russian foreign minister to ask about the religious conversion process and requested to streamline it. Lee Wi-jong was finally baptized at a church in St. Petersburg after undergoing the process,  and was given a Russian baptismal name called ‘Vladimir Sergeyevich Li’.

Everything was all set. They were married on November 11 1905. He was 21 and Elizabeta was 17. They were happily married and  enjoyed the affluent lifestyle as his father supported their living expenses. They had two pretty girls and  he became a respectable head of household.

Hard times in Russia

However, the life after that was not easy. Starting from 1907, they had to spend more days apart than days together before their sweet honeymoon phases ended.  He went to the Hague, to the U.S. and the Maritime Province crossing over the Siberia to engage in the independent movement. Furthermore, his father took his own life right after he came back to St Petersburg where his family lived.  He had no fortune left as he spent all the money for the anti-Japanese movement. Until then, he was relying on his father for his living expenses. The time came for him to become the breadwinner for his family.

He started earning a living to support his family. He worked at a poultry farm in Novgorod Oblast and worked as a clerk in the customs office of the northwest railway. However, the circumstances of his house did not get any better. Furthermore, his third daughter was born in 1912. He had to make a claim to receive some financial assistance from the Russian government and constantly reduce the size of his house. He was desperate and there seem to be no escape.

Under such circumstances, it was not easy to continue their marriage. Their passionate love in their youth faded away gradually due to the hardships of life,  and their separation began from 1913. Elizabeta blamed him on not providing child support. He was an irresponsible breadwinner of the house to her. Finally, their marriage ended in less than 10 years.

After the Russian Revolution

The first World War broke out in 1914. He decided to join the military as he previously served as the second lieutenant of the French Army. He entered the Vladimir Military School and received the military training in January, 1916, and was enlisted as the lieutenant of the Russian Army to fight against Germany. However, his days in the military did not last long  as Russia conclude a peace treaty with Germany after the Russian Revolution in October, 1916.

It was the civil war in Russia that called him back to rejoin.  Civil wars were everywhere in Russia after the Revolution. He was enlisted to the 3rd international regiment in Ryazan Oblast in May 1918, and fought in the battlefield as the Soviet Red Army. Later, he became a member of Russian SFSR in December of the same year. He fought in the battle to collapse of Ufa as the commander of the 15th regiment of machine-gun unit in April 1919. At that time, Ufa was considered as an important strategic location leading to Omsk for the government of Siberia under the authority of the White Army. He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner after the occupation of Ufa in December.

Why did he join the Red Army? The Russian Revolution was an anti-imperialist movement. The principle of national self-determination proclaimed by Lenin allowed him to explore the possibility of resuming the national liberation movement of Joseon even after it became a colony. I assumed that the Russian Revolution and revolution of Joseon or the independence of Joseon was considered inseparable to him.

The civil war in Russia took a new stance as the Far Eastern Republic was established in Siberia as a buffer state in April 1920.  He left the army and began to engage in the populist movement and the activities of the party. He was deployed to Perm city to engage in the populist movement among Russian-Korean labors in Ural region in 1920 and later moved to Semipalatinsk, Krasnoyarsk, and Chita and contributed greatly to the activities of the party and mass organization in the Siberian region. He was promoted gradually as he worked hard. First, his main duty was to organize a group of Koreans and train them in the region. Later, he moved to take care of main activities of the party and administrative division. It was found that his last duty and position was the vice president of Chita branch of ‘bread production company’ according to the record of October 1924.

A refugee or diaspora

He suddenly found himself as a refugee as the country that deployed to a foreign country collapsed. Although he never returned to Joseon, he always longed for his homeland.

He had days where he shone brightly.  He stood in front of  foreign journalists to explain about the independence of Joseon,  and it was the same as the distance around the globe.  He was married, and made a family, and had three beautiful daughters. Although he was a refuge, he had a life. He had to earn his living. However, he faced failures against a harsh reality. His desperation was understandable but he stood up again. As a military official protecting the revolution, as a member of communist party to continue the revolution,  back as an ordinary man, and finally as a restless diaspora.

It is interesting to see his paths.  Starting from joining the red army in Ryazan to Chita, he went on to move to the East. Was it a coincidence? Or, was it due to his longing for his homeland that he never stepped back in after his early teen years?  It is all speculations as I do not have any information on his whereabout after 1924.