On April 28, Yonhap news shared the story of an 80-year-old grandmother, referred to as the 'Yi Sun Sin Halmuni,' who has visited the birthplace and memorial of legendary Korean naval commander and admiral Yi Sun Sin to clean the area everyday for 30 years.
When interviewed, the Yi Sun Sin Halmuni explained, "It's not like anyone told me to do this, but I promised myself that I would do it until the day I die. If someone throws away garbage on the tombstone or parks their motorcycle near it, I would argue with them. Admiral Yi Sun Sin is an honorable person and it's a shame that his birthplace tombstone is so dirty."
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According to the report, she makes daily visits to the tombstone every morning around 7~8AM and cleans around the area since the tombstone was first created back in 1985. On April 28, the 470th anniversary since the birth of Yi Sun Sin, the old lady spent her morning holding a small memorial service.
Merchants around the area complimented the Yi Sun Sin Halmuni for her dedication. However, the old lady deflected the praise and said, "I'm not doing anything great, I'm just cleaning [the tombstone] since it's dirty. I usually did it when no one was around, but people started to find out about it. Recently, there's been people who have been helping me clean. I promised that I'll be doing this until I die, so I'm going to keep at it."
Admiral Yi Sun Sin is considered as one of greatest naval commanders in history. He is respected for his victories against the Japanese navy during the Imjin War in the Joseon Dynasty as well as his exemplary conduct on and off the battlefield. Despite his lack of formal naval combat training, Yi Sun Sin is remembered as one of the few admirals in world history who remained undefeated after commanding as many naval battles as he did and for resurrecting and improving geobukseon, Korea's famed Turtle ship.
The story of Yi Sun Sin has been told and recreated through various historical movies such as, "The Admiral: Roaring Currents."
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