Afanasy Seredin-Sabatin

Was of noble birth, landed gentry, of the province of Poltava, Ukraine, where the family owned an estate, with serfs.

[1] Summarized Biography Afanasii Ivanovich Seredin-Sabatin, was born in Lubny, Poltava, Ukraine, in 1860.

[1] Lydia Christianovna Shalich, was of Polish-German origin, born in Galicia, Russian Empire.

[1] Afanasii spent sometime at sea in the Far East until arriving in Korea in 1883 where he was hired by Paul Georg von Möllendorff for geodesic and construction works.

[1] Soon after the Russo-Japanese war (1904–05) he suffered some kind of a nervous disorder and left his family consisting of his wife, four daughters and one son.

He was an excellent swimmer (having saved several people from drowning), an accomplished tennis player, and an indefatigable hiker.

[2] September 25, 1895 (Its Russian old calendar = 8 Oct 1895) On 8 October 1895, Empress Myeongseong (referred to as "Queen Min"[3]) was assassinated by Japanese agents.

The documents included the testimony of King Gojong, several witnesses of the assassination, and Karl Ivanovich Weber's report to Lobanov-Rostovsky, the Foreign Minister of Russia.

[4] According to a Russian eyewitness, Seredin-Sabatin (an employee of the Korean king), a group of Japanese agents and members of the Hullyeondae army entered the royal palace,[5] killed Empress Myeongseong, and desecrated her body in the north wing of the palace.