It was December 31, 1968. Hyeonchungsa Shrine, established to commemorate Admiral Yi Sun-sin and the New Year holiday in South Korea.
The staff member was doing their usual morning patrol when—huh? The exhibition hall that should be locked is open...? The lock has been cut off...? Wait, wait, wait...? Where did the Nanjung Ilgi go....?????????
Ten volumes, including the entire Imjin Diary, Imjin Jangcho, and Seogancheop (Letter Collection) that should have been in the exhibition hall, had completely disappeared. Korea was in chaos. The citizens weren't the only ones shocked. President Park Chung-hee, a former military man who often professed respect for Yi Sun-sin, was also among the shocked.
The investigation started on January 1st, but after a week of no progress, President Park Chung-hee issued a special statement on January 8th. "If the Nanjung Ilgi is not found by January 17th, all investigative agencies will be mobilized to apprehend and severely punish the culprit. If the culprit repents and surrenders or provides information, their crime will be completely overlooked, and a reward will be given to any citizen who reports the whereabouts of the Nanjung Ilgi." Unlike typical cases, he issued this extraordinary special statement, showing great fervor for the recovery of the diary. The police identified two major suspects: 1. Lee Jae-yong (33, unemployed, living in Seoul). At the time, there was a feud between the direct and collateral branches of the Deoksu Lee clan (Yi Sun-sin's family). He visited Onyang three days before the incident, frequented Hyeonchungsa before and after the theft, and, despite usually skipping clan meetings, suddenly appeared mid-December and allegedly said, "You could get 100,000 won just for tearing off one page of the Nanjung Ilgi." 2. Iwao Kiyoshi (岩尾清, 27). A Japanese national who had frequently visited Onyang shortly before the incident.
Beyond the fact that Lee Jae-yong frequently gambled and had a poor reputation within the clan, no specific charges could be found. Iwao Kiyoshi was confirmed to have departed the country at 11 AM two days before the incident, thus excluding both suspects from the list. (Park Chung-hee's special statement appears to have been issued after this.) While the investigation was struggling, a tip was received by the Busan Police Department at 11 AM on January 9th, following Park's special statement. The tipster had seen people discussing national treasures at a tearoom in Dongnae Oncheonjang. The informant began tailing them and became certain when they overheard them near the Oncheong-dong market saying, "If we do it this way, we'll get caught easily," leading to the report.
(ChatGPT image) The police finally succeeded in catching the first accomplice based on the report, and subsequently apprehended six more people. There were a total of seven accomplices, one of whom was later found dead as a corpse in Geumgang Park, Geumjeongsan, confirmed by autopsy to be suicide by poisoning. The ringleader, Ryu Geun-pil (37, antiques dealer), was a repeat offender who had previously served 9 months in prison for stealing the Bronze Eunsama Statue from Tongdosa Temple a year prior and selling it to a certain rich man, Mr. Lee. It was revealed that Ryu Geun-pil had lured the accomplices by claiming they could get 10 million won if they sold the Nanjung Ilgi in Japan. It was revealed they had even conducted a preliminary reconnaissance of Hyeonchungsa a week before the crime, and forensic reconstruction showed it took them less than 40 minutes to break the iron door and steal the items from the exhibition hall. (Namuwiki says 10 million won at the time is approximately 300 million won today, and if divided among 6 people, each would receive about 50 million won today. They were willing to sell the nation's treasure, even to Japan, for 50 million won each.)
The police involved in the arrests were specially promoted, and rewards were given to the informants. One additional accomplice, who gave up after the reconnaissance, was specially pardoned. However, after the incident, the police were criticized for insufficient initial investigation and issues with the suspect selection process. Specifically, they showed inconsistent behavior; for instance, after confirming Lee Jae-yong's alibi and releasing him, they arrested him two days later on charges of fraud and gambling. Lee Jae-yong himself stated he nearly became a victim of the police's "gut instinct" investigation. Furthermore, when the stolen Nanjung Ilgi was recovered, it was confirmed that three sets of six pages from the Seogancheop (Letter Collection) were missing. An accomplice had secretly taken them during the crime, but after he was arrested, his wife, fearing repercussions, attempted to burn them. They were fortunately recovered just before incineration. Following this incident, the Nanjung Ilgi was no longer publicly displayed, and 500 copies were made and sent to public libraries and museums nationwide. (For a more detailed account of the incident, please refer to the Wikipedia article.) Sources: Nanjung Ilgi Theft Incident - Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia; Chungnam Provincial Government Newspaper; The Turbulent 100 Years of Chungnam! Yi Sun-sin's Nanjung Ilgi in Japan...: Naver Blog; Nanjung Ilgi - Namuwiki. This article was written by a non-specialist. There may be errors. I will correct them if pointed out. Thank you.
"The comment section goes hard on historical politics: debating Park Chung-hee's use of Yi Sun-sin as a PR move, and why the 'Won Gyun was innocent' theory keeps popping up. Also, massive relief that the document was recovered before it went up in smoke, and a reminder of how lucky the arrest was considering the police's terrible record (shoutout to the Hwaseong serial murders era)."
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