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A Dong Geobukseon Chosen as a Retirement Gift for a Foreign Military Colleague
Official product names are shown in Korean. Product pages are in Korean; prices are in South Korean won (KRW).
To mark the retirement of a foreign military colleague who had served together in Korea, the staff of one organization prepared a gift. When the moment comes for working colleagues to part ways with a farewell, what is the right thing to hand over? An object that can call to mind the time spent in Korea while also carrying the gratitude of colleagues gives you a reason to choose it.
Just because a gift is for a foreign colleague does not mean it is easy to choose something solely on the basis of Korean decorative elements. You also find yourself thinking about whether it suits the occasion of a retirement, and how it connects to the bond formed through working together. In this case, what the staff chose was a model of a geobukseon (turtle ship). The fact that it is a warship carrying Korean history naturally aligns with a commemorative gift presented to a military colleague.
The item chosen at the time was the 동거북선中(1/400) — a 1/400-scale miniature replica of the geobukseon made in dong (copper) material, crafted so that the historic warship can be displayed as a decorative piece. The geobukseon is the warship used by Admiral Yi Sun-sin during the Imjin War, and it calls to mind the history of Korea's naval defense. That is reason enough to choose it when you want to convey a piece of that history to a military colleague with whom you served in Korea. At 13 cm wide, 7 cm deep, and 11.5 cm tall, the dimensions give you a concrete sense of the size if you are thinking of a keepsake to place on a desk or shelf.
The part of this gift worth noting is the inscription added to the model. The order at the time included an option for a printed English nameplate. The configuration allowed a retirement date, the names of the colleagues presenting the gift, and a message of thanks to be printed in English. If the geobukseon carries the place called Korea, the text on the nameplate carries the people who worked together and the moment of retirement.
When a gift is prepared by a group, you find yourself thinking just as much about what words to leave as about the object itself. Rather than a long, formal sentence, you might consider wording that clearly conveys gratitude for the time spent working together and a send-off for the retirement. It also matters that the message is delivered in a language the recipient can read. The choice made at the time — adding an English greeting to a Korean-style model — is an example of considering both the appearance of the gift and the message to be conveyed.
There is no need to prepare an elaborate history lesson for the moment the gift is handed over. A brief introduction explaining that it is a model based on the geobukseon, a Korean warship, combined with thanks for the time spent working together, is enough. Thinking about whether the recipient will appreciate a warship model as a subject, and whether they are the kind of person who would welcome a keepsake to keep nearby, makes the reason for the gift all the clearer. If you are approaching the retirement of a foreign military colleague and want to leave something behind that represents the connection formed in Korea, start with an object like this 동거북선 that can hold both the place and the relationship.
This account is based on an actual purchase; individuals and the organization have been anonymized, and some details have been reconstructed.