I’d heard about Yi Seok, the lost prince who has struggled to make his way in a post-imperial world, at a dinner party during a six-month stay in South Korea. When my husband came to visit, we were hungry to see a part of Korea that wasn’t modern or fast or covered in dingy concrete. So we set out to meet the prince and get a glimpse of what Korea was like before it became a contemporary powerhouse.
In a wealthy country the size of Indiana, the bus ride to Jeonju, the ancestral home of the Joseon rulers, was easy and comfortable: a few hours on speedy, well-paved roads, with a stop for coffee and walnut-shaped pastries filled with bean paste.
We passed green mountains and miles of farmland before reaching Jeonju, where we took a cab to our final destination: a restored village of whitewashed houses with dark ceramic-tiled roofs. Similar museums full of traditional houses, known as hanoks, exist around the country. But Jeonju has one of the biggest and best preserved.
We made our way to Yi Seok’s apartment, which is part of a guesthouse near the edge of the village. The prince was running late, visiting his girlfriend in another city, so we checked into a room across the courtyard. We were nervous about staying there on a winter evening — the windows and doors are made of paper! — but the manager promised that we would sleep like kings in padded silk blankets on a heated floor.
The prince arrived after dark in a silver minivan and invited us into his living room, where we sat cross-legged around a shining pot of tea. Still handsome at 70, he wore a quilted silk jacket in a muted color, a modern-day version of old-style Korean clothes. Portraits of his grandfather, Emperor Gojong, and his uncle, (the last) Emperor Sunjong, hung on the wall above us.
“Every night I dream of the palace days,” Yi Seok began, in sometimes hesitant English. We leaned in. This is what we’d come to hear — the tale of a fortunate son born too late.
Yi Seok’s life story is best known for its low point and his rebirth: After decades of struggle, including immigrating illegally to the United States, he returned to Korea only to become homeless. In 2004, a Korean reporter found him sleeping in an all-night bathhouse in Seoul and wrote about his plight. The city of Jeonju, seeking to promote tourism as the birthplace of the Joseon dynasty’s founder, gave him a house and a new job as a spokesman for the past.
Today he gives tours in Jeonju and speaks about royal history at universities around the country. He’s invited to wave to crowds at festivals and ribbon cuttings and to kick the first ball in soccer games.
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