Yi Su-gwang

Yi Su-gwang
Hangul	이수광
Hanja	李睟光
Revised Romanization	Yi Su-gwang
McCune–Reischauer	I Su-kwang

Yi Su-gwang (1563–1628), also known as Lee Sugwang, was a Korean sarim, a military official, and a diplomat of the Joseon Dynasty. He was also an academic and an encyclopedist who created Jibong yuseol, the earliest Korean encyclopedia.

Yi Su-gwang was born to a wealthy, aristocratic family in 1563, and was offered the finest education his parents could afford. In 1585, he passed the civil service exam and became a military officer.

In the wake of Seven-Year War, he was stationed in Jogyeong, Gyeongsang province, where he was given command of a small army contingent. He encountered a Japanese expeditionary contingent in Yongin, Gyeonggi province and lost. His superiors restationed him in Uiju, Hamgyong province, where he encountered more Japanese forces. His actions during this period were sufficiently successful for him to be promoted.

In 1614, he would write about his military experience, noting that the Joseon forces had "too many sajok (families of yangban or scholar officials), idlers, vagrants and too few people liable for service." The book is considered to be the foundation of the Silhak school.

After the war, he was dispatched as an emissary to the Ming Dynasty. In Ming China, he acquired several books written on Catholicism by an Italian priest, Matteo Ricci, who was living in China at this time. He brought them back to Korea, which was the first time Western literature had been brought into Korea. He took great interest in the Western world. From the research he developed during his three missions to China, he was able to create a 20-volume encyclopedia, with the title Jibong yuseol.

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