President Yoon Suk Yeol (fourth from right) on Dec. 13 tours Ridderzaal (Hall of Knights) in The Hague with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte (third from right). (Jeon Han)
By Aisylu Akhmetzianova
President Yoon Suk Yeol, on a state visit to the Netherlands, on Dec. 13 visited Ridderzaal (Hall of Knights) in The Hague and Yi Jun Peace Museum as Korea’s first head of state to visit either venue.
The Office of the President in Seoul said President Yoon and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte that day visited Ridderzaal and saw exhibits related to the Second Hague Peace Conference of 1907. The latter was an event in which the Korean Empire sought to publicize its sovereignty and Japanese aggression on the Korean Peninsula.
Completed in 1280, Ridderzaal holds historical significance in the Korean independence movement and now hosts leading national events like the opening of the Dutch legislature.
President Yoon told Prime Minister Rutte, “Ridderzaal holds very high historical meaning for Korea as the site of the Second Hague Peace Conference, to which Emperor Gojong sent three special envoys — Yi Sang-seol, Yi Jun and Yi Wi-jong — to lobby for the recovery of the Korean Empire’s national sovereignty.”
Near Ridderzaal, President Yoon also visited the museum, which was built on the former site of the De Jong Hotel, where Yi Jun was found dead after being dispatched with the other two envoys to the 1907 conference.
President Yoon saw the room and bed used by Yi Jun and the latter’s special envoy credential from the emperor. Afterwards, he received a briefing on the activities of the three envoys in The Hague to call global attention to the unfairness of the Eulsa Treaty, which Japan used to deprive Korea of its diplomatic autonomy.
“Despite difficult situations, our country’s patriotic martyrs who were devoted to restoring national sovereignty and independence allowed the existence of today’s free Korea,” the president said. “We will deeply engrave in our hearts the spirit of devoted martyrs who stood for freedom, justice and peace and continuously support efforts to promote a patriotic spirit and the noble cause of peace.”
President Yoon Suk Yeol on Dec. 13 bows before the bust of patriotic martyr Yi Jun at the Yi Jun Peace Museum in the Dutch city of The Hague. (Kim Yong Wii from Office of the President)
aisylu@korea.kr
