page_title: General Sherman incident
section_title: Disputed account
hierarchical_section_title: General Sherman incident / Disputed account
caption_attribution_description: Pyongyang, DPRK (North Korea)
context_page_description: The General Sherman incident was the destruction of an armed U.S. Merchant Marine side-wheel steamer in Korea in 1866. It was an important catalyst to the end of Korean isolationism in the 19th century. After passing the Keupsa Gate without permission from the Koreans, the merchant ship was attacked and fought over for several days before finally being destroyed in Pyongyang.
context_section_description: The Koreans had demonstrated on several occasions that while they did not want to engage in trade with westerners, they would not harm them. It was already well known that two months prior to the General Sherman incident, an armed vessel captained by Ernst Oppert, a German, had visited Korea and made a similar demand for trade, had been refused by the Koreans, but had been treated well and returned to China safely.  Oppert returned to Korea in Emperor, which steamed up the Han River near Seoul, on the same day that General Sherman left Chefoo. Surprise, an American ship, had recently been shipwrecked in Chulsan, in Pyong-an Province, on June 24, 1866. The crew was not harmed and was sent to China by Governor Park Gyu-su, the same official in charge during the General Sherman incident.
  Some Koreans have claimed that the real purpose of General Sherman's voyage was to seek treasures buried in the royal tombs near Pyongyang. Onboard the ship was a Chinese inspector of gold and silver, whose presence led to conjecture that General Sherman was planning to loot precious metals from a king's tomb near Pyongyang. In China, it was believed that the royal coffins in the tombs of Pyongyang, where more than one dynasty of Korea lay buried, were made of solid gold, and after the departure of General Sherman to Korea, some westerners in China speculated that General Sherman's expedition had something to do with these treasures. Robert Jermain Thomas, the ship's interpreter, had also asked a Korean undercover officer the whereabouts of a white pagoda, which is usually associated with worship. Additionally, the ship did not possess a manifest of the items listed for trade, leading some to point to an ulterior motive. Furthermore, the Koreans also believed the use of an armed metal-hull gunboat was suspicious in a mission simply for trade. Even among westerners residing in China, there were concerns regarding how heavily armed General Sherman was at the time.
  Beginning in the late-1960s, North Korea's government historians began to claim the attack on General Sherman was planned and led by Kim Hyong-jik, the father of North Korean president Kim Il-sung. The claim has no confirmation in historical records but is still being repeated in North Korean publications, including textbooks. In 2006, North Korea issued a postage stamp commemorating the sinking of the merchant vessel.
  The USS Pueblo was formerly moored at what is believed to be the spot where the incident took place. In late 2012, however, the ship was relocated to the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum.
caption: A plaque marking the sinking of General Sherman in Pyongyang
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