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Wook Kang's avatar

During the Battle of Myeongnyang in 1597, Admiral Yi Sun-sin did not have any turtle ships (Geobukseon) at his disposal. Although he had successfully utilized turtle ships in earlier battles during the Imjin War, the devastating defeat at the Battle of Chilcheollyang earlier that year resulted in the loss of most of the Joseon navy's fleet. (Admirl Yi was imprisoned at that time.) Consequently, there was insufficient time and resources to rebuild the turtle ships before the Battle of Myeongnyang. Despite commanding a significantly smaller fleet of only 13 ships against a much larger Japanese armada, Admiral Yi achieved a remarkable victory using strategic positioning and the challenging currents of the Myeongnyang Strait to his advantage.

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Melmoth Wanderer's avatar

You pass over the development of the Korean script in a sentence. Perhaps you could revisit that. My understanding is that Kanji is the only phonetic representation of a tonal language. It was thought at one time to be original, but some claim it's a brilliant adaptation of a North Asian phonetic script. Kanji, as well as the development of the first armored ships. testify to Korean ingenuity.

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