Navy captain Jeong Bal (, 1553–1592) was a general of the

Joseon Joseon ( ; ; also romanized as ''Chosun''), officially Great Joseon (), was a dynastic kingdom of Korea that existed for 505 years. It was founded by Taejo of Joseon in July 1392 and replaced by the Korean Empire in October 1897. The kingdom w ...

period who commanded a garrison at Busan port.

Death

He was killed in action in 1592, during the

Siege of Busan Japanese army sacks the city of Busan. The siege of Busanjin () was a battle fought at Busan on 24 May 1592, between Japanese and Korean forces. The attacks on Busan and the neighboring fort of Dadaejin were the first battles of the Japanese ...

, while defending the garrison from elements of the Japanese vanguard, led by the Christian warlord

Konishi Yukinaga Konishi Yukinaga (小西行長, baptized under the Portuguese personal name Agostinho; 1558 – November 6, 1600) was a Japanese daimyō who served under Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Known as a Kirishitan daimyo, he is notable for his role as the ...

. Eventually, his entire garrison was overrun and massacred by Japanese forces. He was the first high-ranking officer to be killed in combat during the

Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598) The Imjin War () was a series of two Japanese invasions of Korea: an initial invasion in 1592 also individually called the "Imjin War", a brief truce in 1596, and a second invasion in 1597 called the Chŏngyu War (). The conflict ended in 159 ...

. Some Korean accounts of the war say that Jeong fled the battle rather than fight, but the accepted version is that he stayed and died fighting the invaders. Nanjungjaprok contains the witness reports of survivors of the Siege of Busan, in which the survivors claimed that Jeong stood his ground instead of running. There is a statue of him defending the city in the centre of Busan.Turnbull, Stephen: ''Samurai Invasion. Japan's Korean War 1592–98'' (London, 2002), Cassell & Co He was enshrined in the Chungnyeolsa (Busan) in 1624.Busan's official website, Pride of Busan subsection

Retrieved 4 June 2007.

References

1553 births 1592 deaths Joseon generals Korean military personnel killed in action People of the Imjin War {{mil-hist-stub