Yi Seok - Early Life

Early Life

Yi Seok was born and raised in Sadong Palace in Seoul during the Japanese occupation. After WW2 ended with the occupation and partition of Korea by the allies in the South, and the Russians and Chinese in the north, the Korean Imperial family was rendered homeless, what assets that were not confiscated by the Japanese were then confiscated by the incoming Syngman Rhee government, and forced to temporary accommodation within palaces in Seoul.

The coming of the Korean War in the summer of 1950 led the cadet elements of the Imperial family to flee by an American landing craft from Incheon, along the coast down to Busan, then to live in a hillside monastery in Jeju Island till the war ended in the autumn of 1953 when they returned to Seoul.

Yi Seok as a young man was required to look after his family as best he could, along with his brothers, and took any jobs that he could to provide for his parents and siblings before and after university during the hard times of the Korean War and Cold War era as the Republic of Korea fought communism and internal subversion.

At Hankook University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, Yi Seok studied foreign languages, principally Spanish, as well as foreign relations and history, became fluent in several languages, and prepared himself for the diplomatic service. A series of coups, changes in government and civil discord rendered that impossible. Paying his own way through university, Seok again worked at many different jobs to provide for his family, and as he had an aptitude for entertaining, became a well known singer and professional musician in the 1960s while in his twenties, having several hit songs.