Yi Kang

There is no much official records about his early life, which may be caused by being born by Lady Jang, a court lady-in-waiting of King Gojong but not the king's official consort or concubine during her lifetime. Lady Jang came from the Deoksu Jang clan, and Queen Inseon (Hyojong of Joseon's queen consort) was her distant relative.[lower-roman 1] According to the tradition, the half-brothers of the crown prince, in this case, Yi Cheok (future Sunjong of Korea), needed to move out from the palace until the latter reached the age 10; as the result, there were some years that Yi Kang lives with Pak Yung-hio, the son-in-law of King Cheoljong.[2] During the Gapsin Coup in 1884, Yi Kang and his mother were taken by Pak Yung-hio to the palace; contemporary rumors claimed that the coup d'état tried to replace the king with Yi Kang;[3] but after the coup ended, Yi left the palace again. During his young age, Yi Kang grew up with a bad reputation because of his behavior.[2]

Later, Queen Min, Gojong's wife, asked her husband to grant Yi Kang a title, so Yi Kang became Prince Uihwa (의화군) in 1892.[4] After three rounds of choosing in 1893,[5] the daughter of an official Kim Sa-jun, Lady Kim (Kim Sudeok), was chosen to be the spouse of Yi Kang, which was arranged by Queen Min.[6] Lady Kim, also known as "Lady Kim of Deokindang", was a distant relative to Queen Inmok, the queen consort of Seonjo of Joseon in early 17th century;[lower-roman 2] Yi Kang never had an issue with his wife. Even after getting married, Yi Kang got involved into deft and lawsuit problems.[6]

Prince Yi Kang was appointed special ambassador to the Empire of Japan for the celebration ceremonies for Japan's victory in the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. The next year, he visited six European countries as an ambassador extraordinary: the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia, Italy and Austria-Hungary. In 1899, he studied for a year at Keio University in Tokyo. While he was not in Korea, Yi Kang was promoted to the rank of Prince Imperial Ui, and styled His Imperial Highness in 1900;[8] his late mother was also posthumously recognized as a concubine of the Emperor. By the same year, he went to the United States and began studies at Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia from March 1901, where he majored in mathematics. After graduation, he spent a brief period at the Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio, and then traveled to San Francisco and Hawaii, returning to Korea in 1905. While in the United States, he scandalized the Korean government with his profligate spending and playboy lifestyle. As the result, as well as the help from the Japanese, when childless Sunjong of Korea ascended to the throne in 1907, Yi Un, their younger half-brother, became the crown prince almost without any obstacles.[9]

Prince Yi Kang served as the president of the Korean Red Cross from 1906 to 1910.

Following the abdication of King Gojong in 1907, and the Japan-Korea Treaty of 1910 by which Korea was annexed to the Empire of Japan, Prince Yi Kang grew increasingly dissatisfied with his status, even though the Japanese provided him with a huge annual allowance. At the same time, the title "Prince Imperial Ui" was abolished and he was known as the "Duke Yi Kang", a title given by Japanese.[10]

In 1919, he collaborated with Choe Ik-hwan, a member of Daedongdan, who attempted to support him as the new leader of Korea. Prince Yi Kang then tried to escape to the Provisional Government of Korea based in Shanghai, only to be discovered in Dandong from Manchuria and returned to his home country. After this, the Japanese government claimed that Yi Kang was "abducted" and "wanted to escape to live profligately again".[11] Later, Yi Kang asked to deprive his title multiple times but he wasn't approved. As of November 10, 1925, a law for defining the status of the former Korean imperial family was made; on June 12, 1930, Yi Kang officially retired and his eldest son Yi Geon succeeded him as duke, but Yi Kang's styles and allowances still remained until the end of World War II.[12][13]

Throughout the Japanese rule, there were only few members of Yi Kang family recognized by Japan: Yi Kang himself, his wife Kim Sudeok (Duchess Consort of Yi Kang), his eldest son Duke Yi Geon with his family, and his second son Duke Yi U (adopted as the heir to Duke Yi Jun-yong in 1917) with his family;[14] for the rest of his children, they could either be adopted by various Korean nobles to retain fundamental rights including education,[15] or be illegitimate children, living with their mothers without any titles or noble privileges.[16]

After the independence of Korea, he continued to live in Seoul, but in increasing poverty.[17] On 9 August 1955 he was baptized a Roman Catholic, given the Christian name "Pius"; Lady Kim was also baptized and had a name "Maria".[18] Yi Kang passed way a week later on August 15, 1955, at the age of 78, in his mansion "Seongrakwon" Manor (now Seongnagwon Garden, in Seongbuk District, Seoul); he was buried in Hongneung and Yureung,[19] where his father and brothers were buried in Namyangju near Seoul.