He was famous for his brightness, so in 1876, at the age of 7, he was adopted into Yi Yong-u's family and he relocated to Seoul.

In 1904, when the Empire of Japan demanded the reclamation right of wasteland, he made an appeal to the king to refuse that.

He was commissioned to announce to the international community that Korea was an independent state and that the Japanese invasion was unlawful.

However, the Japanese government was able to step in and succeeded in convincing the other delegates of the conference not to let Korea participate.

The direct result of their mission was that the Korean Emperor, Gojong was forced to resign in favor of his son Sunjong.