Ambassador’s Message – Century Ireland 1913-1923 / 10 May 2013 

As you will have seen from previous messages recently concerning the Irish Korean War Memorial and veterans’ revisit, the overarching theme was the recovery of hitherto lost or ignored strands of Ireland’s national narrative, in this instance the tradition of Irish service in the British Army and the armies of other nations. 

This is part of a process: this week, for example, a Bill was passed by Dáil Éireann (the Irish parliament) pardoning soldiers in the Irish Army who deserted to enlist with the Allied armies and fight in World War II.  As the Minister for Defence, Alan Shatter T.D., said, “It is estimated that over 60,000 citizens of the then Free State and in the region of 100,000 who resided on this Island fought against Nazi tyranny during the Second World War. For too long in this State we failed to acknowledge their courage and their sacrifice….”

Up to the Easter Rebellion in 1916, that narrative was a very complicated one.  It embraced many versions of Irish identity spanning the range from unionism and its identification with Britain, the British monarchy and the Empire to militant republicanism devoted to using armed force to gain Irish independence and establish a uniquely Irish state.  In between, individuals and organisations grappled with where they stood on the national question.  The main nationalist party, the Irish Parliamentary Party under John Redmond, supported Home Rule as did most nationalist opinion. The Rebellion led to the eclipse of Redmond and his Party and the emergence of Sinn Féin.

You can catch a flavour of these times, their complications and the stories making the headlines in May 1913, in a great new project called “Century Ireland”.  It is a collaborative effort by Boston College, RTÉ and a host of partners, including many of Ireland’s cultural institutes.  You can find Century Ireland here: http://www.rte.ie/centuryireland

The website is wonderful: visual, informative and fascinating.  Stories include haunting cases of infanticide, the struggles of the suffragettes, and the passage of the Home Rule Bill. 

One story reports on the announcement of a new telephone cable to be laid under the Irish Sea “to give Dublin a direct connection with the English telephone system for the first time.”  The report goes on “Up to now, anyone in Dublin who wishes to talk on the phone to someone in London, has to have the call passed through a series of connections from Dublin to Belfast, from there under the Irish Sea to either Glasgow or Carlisle, and then down through the length of Britain to London.”  Times have certainly changed.

The portal was inspired by the decade of centenaries of formative Irish historical events that we celebrate and commemorate between now and 2023.

As to why the Easter Rebellion replaced complexity with simplicity, that is a long story.  In summing it up, Yeats brought all of his powers to bear on the event.  “Easter 1916” is one of his finest works, visual and lapidary, penetrating and awestruck; “all changed, changed utterly: a terrible beauty is born.”

Have a great weekend,

Eamonn McKee / Ambassador

Welcome to the website of the Embassy of Ireland in Seoul.

The Embassy is here to serve you, whether you are an Irish citizen visiting, living or interested in Korea or whether you are a Korean citizen interested in Ireland.

Korea and Ireland have many things in common.  We have achieved great political, social and economic progress against the backdrop of long, turbulent and at times tragic histories.  We have learned to live with powerful neighbours and have experienced the trauma of partition.  We have prospered by engaging in the wider world through emigration, trade, business and a commitment to developing our relations with the international community.

The mission of the Embassy is to provide support to our citizens abroad, to deepen the awareness of Ireland in Korea, and to strengthen the relationship between Ireland and Korea diplomatically, economically and culturally.  We have made great progress since we opened diplomatic relations in 1989 but considerable scope remains to develop our relationship across a range of interests.

This website is one bridge between Ireland and Korea and I hope you find it useful.  If you have any comments or are looking for further information, please feel free to contact us.  We would love to hear from you.

The Embassy maintains a database of the Irish Community here, that is those who are Irish and those who are Korean or of another nationality that have an affinity for Ireland and our culture.  I regularly post messages through this database to the community about matters of interest, for example on the economic situation in Ireland and on Irish events here in Korea.  If you are an Irish citizen and have not registered with the Embassy yet please do so via this website by clicking on ‘Registration of Irish Citizens in Korea with the Embassy’ page. If you are Korean or of another nationality and wish to receive news and updates regularly please send an e-mail to heejeong.kim@dfa.ie  The most recent message is copied above.

Eamonn McKee / Ambassador