KBS 한국사전 – 조선선비 조완벽, 베트남을 가다

Jo Wan-byeok, a scholar from Jinju, was taken prisoner to Japan in 1597, at the age of twenty, during the outbreak of the Japanese Invasion of Korea. While enduring a miserable life of slavery in Japan, he was sold to a Japanese merchant because he could read Chinese characters. He became the first Korean to travel to Vietnam, boarding a ship owned by his master, who held a monopoly on Vietnamese trade. He discovered the startling fact that the poetry of the Joseon writer Yi Su-gwang, Jibong, was popular in Vietnam. This was introduced to Vietnam by Punggeuk-gwan, a Vietnamese envoy who had formed a friendship with Yi Su-gwang through his poetry and poetry exchanges in China. Meanwhile, a Joseon Tongsinsa arrived in Japan with a special mission from the Joseon court to rescue Joseon prisoners. Jo Wan-byeok, who had risked his life to escape, set out again to find the remaining Joseon prisoners. His sense of duty as a scholar dedicated to the common people drove him. Korean Dictionary Episode 16 - Joseon Scholar Jo Wan-byeok Visits Vietnam (Aired October 6, 2007) http://history.kbs.co.kr/