There are some K-Pop idols that give off a regal type of aura that has fans joke that they must be descended from royalty. However, it goes a step further with EXO‘s Suho, who bears a striking resemblance to a past prince of Korea.
The prince in question is Prince Yi U, who is actually dubbed the “last prince” of the Joseon Dynasty in the country. Born in 1912 — two years after the annexation of Korea from Japanese rule — Yi U is known for his devotion to his Korean heritage despite pressure to bow to the foreign nation. He even refused to marry a Japanese woman and instead married Lady Park Chan-ju, the daughter of a Korean nobleman, who he would go on to have two children with.
Despite his loyalty to his Korean ancestry, however, Yi U was still forced to serve in the Japanese military beginning in the early 1930s, during Japan’s war against China. Used as a propaganda tool for Japanese imperial ambition throughout his time in the military, the prince’s tale is a tragic one that was cut far too short.
Prince Yi U was still serving the Japanese military — where he’d risen to the rank of lieutenant-colonel — when World War II reached Japan, and he was stationed in Hiroshima when the first atomic bomb was dropped by the United States in 1945. He’d known that he was likely going to die when he was given the orders to go to Japan during such a violent time, and he’d given his farewells to his family before his departure there.
Tragically, since he was only 700 meters away from the site of the bombing, he didn’t immediately die from the attack but succumbed to injuries caused by the radiation less than a day later. He was posthumously promoted to the rank of colonel after his death.
He was only 32 when he was killed during the war, and there aren’t many photos of the young prince taken during his short life. However, EXO fans have had to do double takes when seeing pictures of Prince Yi U because of his almost eerie visual similarities to the group’s leader.
The topic recently came up on an online forum post, where netizens have expressed their bewilderment over Suho’s close resemblance to the “last prince” of the Joseon dynasty.
SUHO exactly looks like Prince Yi U , a colonel Korean prince & member of the imperial family of Korea & the 4th head of unhyeon palace, & a lieutenant colonel in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II 👑👑
© (WIKI ) +FB @weareoneEXO #EXO #엑소 pic.twitter.com/YvgWskB6pv
— EXOBreakingNews (@EXOBreakingNews) April 15, 2021
It would definitely be easy to believe that Suho was descended from this royal family.
Source: Instiz and Pann Choa
