IMJIN WAR Ep. 3 - The First Invasion Begins

The third episode of the IMJIN WAR, based on my book “The Imjin War: Japan’s Sixteenth-Century Invasion of Korea and Attempt to Conquer China.” This week, we look at the start of Hideyoshi’s invasion of Korea, daimyo commanders Konishi Yukinaga, Kato Kiyomasa and Kuroda Nagamasa leading the way to land at Busan. Facing them in Busan fortress: a Korean garrison under commander Jeong Bal. The Koreans also have a sizable navy of paneokson warships: the Gyeongsang Left Navy under Bak Hong, the Gyeongsang Right Navy under Won Gyun, the Cholla Left Navy under Yi Sun-sin and the Cholla Right Navy under Yi Eok-gi. Tsushima daimyo So Yoshitoshi, part of Konishi Yukinaga’s first contingent, calls on Bak Hong and his garrison to surrender. Bak refuses. And so the Imjin War begins.