Yi Sangsŏl was born on December 7, 1870, in
Jincheon,
Chungcheong, Joseon. His biological father was Yi Haeng-u. He was famous for his brightness, so in 1876, at the age of 7, he was adopted into Yi Yong-u's family and he relocated to
Seoul. In 1896, he became a professor at
Seonggyungwan. In 1904, when the
Empire of Japan demanded the reclamation right of wasteland, he made an appeal to the king to refuse this. Upon the enacting of the
Japan–Korea Treaty of 1905, he made an appeal to the king to oppose the treaty and execute the
Five Eulsa Traitors. When this did not happen, Yi left his office as professor and attempted suicide. From then on, he took initiative in restoring national rights through the patriotic enlightenment movement. In 1907 he and his compatriots
Yi Chun and
Yi Wijong were delegated by
Emperor Gojong to attend the
Second Hague Peace Conference in
The Hague. He was commissioned to announce to the international community that Korea was an independent state and that the Japanese invasion was unlawful. The trio traveled for two months on the
Trans-Siberian Railway to The Hague. The Korean delegation was not officially invited, although the Netherlands initially planned to invite them. The Japanese government had been able to step in, succeeding in convincing the other delegates of the conference not to let Korea participate. The mission, therefore, had already failed. However, the three Koreans succeeded in receiving worldwide attention due to a press conference by an independent newspaper which covered the Peace Conference. The direct result of their mission was that the Korean Emperor Gojong was forced to resign in favor of his son
Sunjong. In 1910, Yi founded
13 douigun (13도의군) troops against the
Empire of Japan with
Yoo In-seok,
Yi Beom-yun, and
Yi Nam-gi, intended to unite loyal troops and fight a more effective war against Japan. In 1917, at the age of 47, he died in
Ussuriysk (at that time named Nikolsk). He left a will, the contents of which were to burn his body and keepsakes, and not perform ancestral rites. Per his will, his body and library were burnt. ==Legacy==