Evening star., 1898-03-04
CHIN POM YE is CRITICAL
A Chapter in Contemporary Corean History
at the Capital.
Congressional Committees Give No
Heed to UncOrrobOrated Charges
of a Foreign Minister.

Senior Depuy De LONE. the late Spanish
minister. was not, it appears, the only
representative of a foreign nation at the
national capital to have poor opinion
of our government and the men who are
controlling it's destiny. Mr.. Chin Pom Ye,
the present minister from Corea has not
so far as known, written any letters to
Corean newspaper men regarding the man.
ner in which officials of the United States
have recently ignored some of his repre-
sentations. but it is asserted that he is
not chary in expressing his criticism in
the most vigorous terms of which the
Ccrean tongue is capable. 1t will be re-
nembered that MrsPom Kwang Sob, who
preceded Mr.. Ye minister from Corea
to the United States. died in this city in
August 1897 Mr. Soh represented a diff
ferent political party in Corea from that
which sent his successor here After Mr..
regarding the estate. of which he died
possessed, and which included certain real
estate in this city. Accordingly a bill was
introduced in Congress to allow the sale
Of the property in question, it being in
tended that the proceeds of it should be
given to Mr.. Soh's heirs.
Minister Yes Letter.
This did not seem to please Minister Chin
Pom Ye. and accordingly, under date of
January p last, he wrote a letter to the
Secretary of State protesting against the
sale.
In the course of his communication he
Stated as follows:
Two years ago, when the former minis
ter. Pom X. Soh, came to the United States,
he brought with him appropriations for the
entire year. He was relieved of office in
September, 1885, and at that time l took
charge cf the legation. The $500 appro-
priation that were still due for the remain
Ger of the year. the retiring minister, Mr..
Pom K. Sob, did not hand over, but used
for private purposes With it he bought
property 2g1S 14th street northwest, where
he resided until his decease. / desire to
collect the debt contracted with the gov
ernment on the sale of the said property.
Mr. PAX Sueng Pong. who came as secre-
fary to Mr.. Sob, later, without my knowl-
edge. endeavored to sell the said property
on 14th street. and on the fact of this be-
coming known to me MIR. PAX Sueng Pong
made his escape from this country.
Mr.. Peters Plain Language.
This letter was referred by the Secretary
of State to Chairman Babcock of the COM
mittee of the District of Columbia of the
House of Representatives, but neither the
members of that committee nor of the same
committee in the Senate appear to have
considered Chin Pom Yes protest as
worthy of consideration On the contrary.
indeed. Repre- sen tative Peters, a member of
The House District committee, made the
following statement:
Il see no reason why the committee
should reverse its decision for Mr.. Ye or
anybody else. Mr.. Yes charges are made
without corroboration and evidently
actuated by political spite. If he could
have had his way he would have had Mr..
Sob hanged because he belonged to the op-
posite political party
Mr.. POng's Escape.
1t will be remembered that when Mr.. Sob
died Minister Chin Pong Ye refused to al
low the use of the Corean flag belonging to
the legation to drape the coffin al Mr.. Soh's
funeral, and also declined to attend the
funeral himself. Persons familiar with the
facts in the case are very much amused al
the Coreans ministers assertion about the
escape" of Mr.. PAX Sueng Pong from this
country. MIR. Pong returned to Corea in
December, 1897 Shortly before his depart
ure he was entertained at the legation by
Chin Pong Ye, who had known for some
time when MIR. PAX intended to leave hav-
ing arranged to send an attache, Mr.. Ye
kOi Sok, to Corea with him, and on the
day the two Coreans left for their far-off
country Minister Chin Pom Ye bade them
goodbye at the Baltimore and Potomac
depot.