Update: I sent Prof. Duvernay an email about the characters on the flag and was told its actually a character (singular); 帥 (수, su), meaning “commanding general.”

Original post: The Baltimore Sun has an article on South Korea’s efforts for the return of the Korean flag captured by the U.S. on Kangwha Island in 1871. The flag, 15’x15’, has two, “Chinese character[s] that stands for commanding general, the flag was a standard for Gen. Uh Je-yeon, who was killed in the battle,” according to the report:

(Note: the same photo appears in the Sun story, but this one is a bit clearer and is taken from the Navy Library.)

In my previous post on Senator Wayne Allard’s (R-CO) efforts to trade the flag to North Korea for the return of the USS Pueblo, I guessed wrong as to the flag’s design.

The bottom line to this story is that it is extremely unlikely that South Korea get the flag back, to keep or even to display, any time soon:

…South Korea, which venerates the heroism of the battle’s defenders much as Americans do the defenders of the Alamo, has asked for the flag back. A delegation from the country’s cultural heritage administration visited the Annapolis campus last month to make its case.

Such booty is protected by U.S. law, and returning the flag would require an act of Congress, something that appears unlikely. South Korean officials had held out hope that the academy could get around the law by providing the flag on permanent loan.

A Defense Department source familiar with last month’s meetings, and who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said the museum has no plans to provide the flag.

[. . .]

A number of laws and executive orders dating to 1814 require that any flags seized by the Navy in combat be displayed at the academy. (emphasis added)

Apparently there has been some low-level interest for some years in returning the flag:

“Here’s an object that would be of great value here in Korea, and South Korea is probably the United States’ best friend in Asia, and yet the United States is holding a war prize. I just thought that really, truly belongs here in Korea,” Thomas Duvernay, a professor of English and Korean history at Handong Global University in Pohang, South Korea, said in a telephone interview.

He has been a leading advocate for the flag’s return. (emphasis added)

I’d say that Japan is a better candidate for our “best friend in Asia.”

During the battle the Koreans lost 350 men, while three sailors and Marines were lost. Don’t miss the rest of the article.