Prince Ly Long Tuong leftVietnam and moved to the Republic of Korea in the 13th century.According to documents in Vietnam and the Republic of Korea ,where the prince’s descendants still live today, Prince Ly Long Tuong,born in 1174, was the seventh son of King Ly Anh Tong. He had reignedfrom 1138-1175 and was the brother of King Ly Cao Tong and the uncle ofKing Ly Hue Tong.
He grew up when the Ly dynasty was coming toan end, eventually being replaced by the Tran dynasty in 1226. Prince LyLong Tuong had made his escape by boat with several hundred followersand headed northwards to the RoK.
The Prince became a general serving the Korean King and helped him successfully fight off two Mongol invasions.
Ly Xuong Can, a 31st generation descendant of King Ly Thai To and a26th generation descendant of Prince Ly Tong Tuong, was grantedVietnamese citizenship and now lives in Vietnam, working in investmentin economic development as well as strengthening cultural exchanges andcooperative relations between Vietnam and the RoK .
The seminar enabled academics and students to understand more about thislink from the distant past between the two countries, which aregeographically quite far apart from each other, but have both hadturbulent histories.-VNA