Beanie level: Candy

Hague Secret Emissary Affair (1907): Gojong sent three secret emissaries(left) to the Second Hague Peace Convention to declare the invalidity of Japanese diplomatic maneuvers, including Eulsa Treaty.
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illustration of Namdaemoon battle (1907), from Le Petit Journal
It is a reaction to the disbandment of the Korean army following the Japan-Korea Treaty of 1907. It took place at Namdaemun in Seoul.



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‘Gat’ bless you! The size of gat’s brim depends on the class. You can see a yangban is wearing wide-brimmed one, while 중인, middle-class interpreter’s wearing narrower one.
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    Thank you for the sharing.. ive never thinking about to look at the size of the brim until now. To a nonKorean any gat may look the same.

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… The enemy maintained their fire with the utmost rapidity until our men got quite up the hill, then, having no time to load, they cast stones upon our men below, fighting with the greatest fury.



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The United States expedition to Korea in 1871

The flag shown in the picture is a battle flag of General Eo Jae-Yeon, who died at the battle. It came back to Korea in 2007 from the US naval academy.
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Sontag Hotel was bestowed to its manager, a German woman of French origin, Antoinette Sontag. She spoke 4 languages and was an emissary of Gojong after 아관파천, Gojong’s refuge at the Russian legation.
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    Glory Hotel in Mr Sunshine appeared to be modeled after the Sontag Hotel, right?

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    Thank you for your information / historical knowledge you share.

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Hotel Glory was modeled after Sontag Hotel (손탁호텔), the first European hotel in Seoul, Korea built in 1902. The first coffee shop of Korea was opened here.



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    Several famous people also stayed at Sontag hotel while they paid a visit to Korea such as British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and American writer Jack London When they were war correspondent.

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      I do remember having read a little something about the Sontag Hotel a while back. It certainly came to mind while watching Mr. Sunshine.

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        Yeah, I personally think she’s another good inspiration to a new period drama 😉

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    I made a post earlier before found this post. So Glory Hotel was modeled after it. And I think Hina is “modelel” after Madam Sontag as well.

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      I think so. Madame Sontag said to speak French, German, Russian, English and some Korean. With her language abillity and sophistocated manners, she quickly won the king’s confidencel. She worked as an advisor to them and introduced western styled manners and receptions, hence became an influential feagures in Korean diplomat.

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        During those days, such a smart woman was uncommon sight. Both Madam Sontag and Hina are remarkable and blessed with such fortune in their own way.

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Hwang Ki-hwan, who is said to inspired Eugene Choi, fled to America in his late teen, volunteered for the US Army and served during World War 1.



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    Comment was deleted

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    After the WW1 ended, he flew to Paris and started working on making the case for the independence of Korea. Among the journalists he interacted in Britain was F. A. McKenzie who took the famous Righteous Army picture. He died in New York, in 1923 at age 40. 80 years after he died, his grave was found in a cemetery in Queens.

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    Omg so many real life events and people inspired the conception of Mr Sunshine. EC kinda look like Ki-hwan.

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More than half of Yi’s house was demolished because of the railroad construction.
The railroad was built crossing the middle of the main yard of 임청각, Yi’s home, the Head House of Goseong Yi’s.
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Yi Sang-ryong is said to be a model for Go Sa-hong.
Yi Sang-ryong was an independence activist, fled to Manchuria after Japanese annexation of Korea and started Shinheung military school there.



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For the record, Song Byung Joon and Lee Wan Yong threatened Emperor to kill himself by pulling knives on him, unlike the drama scene where they hold a gun to him.
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    @cacaonibss Thank you for the historical accurate facts .. most of the facts you provided could only be found in the history books and are not available online.

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      Yeah… It was a bit shocking to me. I thought that scene would be a sheer fiction to make it more dramatic. I mean, how could they dare do such a thing to their emperor, however powerless he might have been? But, dang! it was not a fiction.

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        I was terribly shocked with the scenes where the Traitors threatened their Emperor with pistol. My thought was “How can you be rude to your own King?” Their treachery and rudeness are beyond my small brain to fathom… No wonder they are famous in history. But i guess this can happen if your Emperor was weak and the Ministers were super hungry and greedy for power.

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    Interesting. Good job @cacaonibss .

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Traitor Song Byung Joon, one of who threatened Gojong to suicide and lead the dethrone movement.
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5 traitors of Eulsa Treaty:
Lee Wan-Yong, Lee Ji-Yong, Lee Geun-Taek, Park Je-Soon, Kwon Joong-hyun
(from the left)
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Park Seung Hwan, disbanded Royal army leader from ep. 22
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F. A. McKenzie
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Ito Hirobumi
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Righteous Army, picture taken by British war correspondent F. A. McKenzie
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    I have seen this one. Its trending all over Naver during its finale.

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      Yeah, It’s a pretty well-known picture to Koreans. It wouldn’t only me to recall this picture while seeing the last episode.

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The 8 traitors of Eulmi treaty
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Kim Yong-Hwan, the motive of Kim Hee-Seong
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    Their look almost similar too! @cacaonibs who is Kim Yong-Hwan in Korean history?

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      Comment was deleted

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      He was a successor of Eui-Song Kim, one of the powerful families of Joseon. (I’m not sure if it’s ok to use english word ‘heir apparent’, anyway he was the eldest son of the head family. ) He was a debauchee and notorious for gambling away his family’s property, hence regarded as the disgrace of the great family. But, after the Korean independence, it turned out that he secretly supported independent movement financially. All that gambling was a trick to siphon off family’s assets into Manchuria and to avoid the suspicion of colonial government.

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        Thank you for the awesome info; i tried google earlier but found nothing about him.

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