Myunjebaegab

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Myunjebaegab

MyunJeBaeGab displayed in the exibition of "The Return Of The Flag In 136 Years" in GoGoong Museum.

Korean name

Hangul	면제배갑
Hanja	綿製背甲

MyunJeBaeGab(면제배갑) is the world's first bullet-proof vest invented in the 1860s in Joseon dynasty of Korea.

It was invented right after the French Campaign against Korea, 1866, (byeong-in yang-yo, 병인양요). and used in battles in the United States expedition to Korea (Shinmiyangyo, 신미양요) in 1871. It was made of 30 folds of cotton.

1 Background story
2 Return to Korea
3 Reference
4 external reference

[edit] Background story

Because of military attacts from France (byeong-in yang-yo, 병인양요) 1866, Korea prepared protection from next attacks. The Korean military found that western guns were superior. So, they concentrated on developing defensive systems.

Heungseon Daewongun, who was the actual power in Korea, ordered the development of bullet-proof armor. Kim Gi-Doo (김기두) and Gang Yoon (강윤), who were national weapon developers, found that 12 folds of cotton could protect from bullets through many experiments, and finally invented bullet-proof vests made of 13 folds for each side.

The vests were distributed to soldiers after the invention, and they were used in the battle in Shinmiyangyo 1871 when the US attacked Ganghwa Island (강화도), .

Although the vests were effective against bullets, they were susceptible to fire because they were made of cotton. The vests were easily burnt by fragments from cannon fire; US records indicate that some Korean soldiers caught fire after a cannon attack. Also, the vests were too hot to wear in summer.

However, it seems that the US army were surprised by Korean soldiers who were not injured by gunshot. So, they captured one of the vests and took it to the US. The vest was stored in the Smithsonian Museum.

[edit] Return to Korea

Weapons used by Joseon army in Shinmiyangyo. Picture from the exibition of "The Return Of The Flag In 136 Years" in GoGoong Museum

MyunJeBaeJab displayed in Military Museum (borrowed from National Museum of Korea)

The Korean army flag taken by the US at Shinmiyangyo was found by a professor, and a movement to return the flag to Korea started [4]. Because the US had no legal provision for returning the flag, it was lent to Korea in 2007 for a 10 year period.

It seems that the related weapons taken by the US went to Korea with the flag, and they were displayed in the exibition of "The Return Of The Flag In 136 Years" in GoGoong Museum, in April 1, 2008. MyunJeBaeGab was included in the exibition. It was reported that they were stored in the Korean National Museum. It is not clear whether MyunJeBaeJab was permanently given to Korea, or just lent for 10 years with the flag.