The Prince killed at Hiroshima

Amidst the many deaths from the US bombing of Hiroshima in World War II was an Asian royal.

The Prince who died in the Hiroshima bombing was not Japanese, though, but instead Korean.

Prince Yi U was the grandson of Korean Emperor Gojong and was born during the Japanese occupation of Korea on 15 November 1912.

By the time he was five, he was sent to Japan under the premises of education (although Japan forced several Korean royals to move to Japan under the same premises). Even though he was educated in Japan, he never lost his Korean identity, which made him a favourite son of his father, Prince Kang.

Prince U with his wife on their wedding day. By Unknown author – KBS News, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

Yi U also managed to marry a Korean woman despite attempts by the Japanese to marry him off to a Japanese noble. He and his wife, Park Chan-ju, had two sons: Yi Cheong and Yi Jong.

Korea was under Japanese rule, so the Prince served in the Imperial Japanese Army and was stationed for a time in China. He was eventually transferred to Hiroshima during the Second World War in 1945 where he served as lieutenant colonel.

It was in Hiroshima that he would meet his untimely end.

On 6 August 1945, the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and the Prince was critically injured as he was walking to his office. He later died that same day at a medical aid station; he was later posthumously promoted to colonel. The Prince’s body was returned to Korea where he was buried on 15 August 1945 in Namyang – the same day the war ended.

His wife resided at Unhyeongung Palace in Seoul with their two children. She died in 1995. Their elder son, Yi Cheong is still alive and resides in South Korea.