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Respondents in a patriotic survey have picked Admiral Yi Sun-sin, who defeated the Japanese Navy with armored battleships during the Japanese invasion of 1592, as the greatest figure in Korean history.
In a survey conducted by Soonchunhyang University of 1,000 Koreans over 20 years of age, 43.8 percent selected Yi Sun-sin.
The creator of the Korean or Hangul alphabet, King Sejong, came second with 37 percent, former president Park Chung-hee came third, trailing way behind with 5.7 percent, independence fighter Kim Gu was chosen by 4.8 percent, and the conqueror of Manju during the Koguryo kingdom, King Kwanggaeto the Great, got 3.2 percent.
Asked what virtues can be learned from Admiral Yi, 43.9 said ˇ°forewarned is forearmedˇ± -- remembering that the admiral prepared well in advance when he saw a Japanese invasion coming. Next were loyalty and filial piety (31.7 percent), leadership (7.6 percent), and strong will to win (7.4 percent). To a proposal to erect a statue of Admiral Yi Sun-sin and place an armored battleship on Dokdo, 60.4 percent said yes, while 14.9 percent were against.
More than half of the participants in the survey (59.7 percent) said it was not enough for the Korean government to issue a new Japan doctrine to deal with rumblings from Japan including a provincial bill designating a ˇ°Takeshima Dayˇ± after the Japanese name for Dokdo. A meager 9.5 percent were in favor.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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