Jeonju Lee Royal Family Association
The Jeonju Lee Royal Family Association is a family association from South Korea, and it was founded by the Jeonju Yi clan, the household of Joseon and the Korean Empire, which were the ruling house of the whole Korea. The association originated from several national institutions of Joseon dynasty, and its recent main activities, after the World War II, include holding annual Jongmyo jerye, the worship rites of the royal ancestors, and compiling genealogy books of the descendants from the House of Yi.
History
The king Taejo of Joseon started his reign in 1392, and some of the institution setups included an office to handle affairs regarding the royal family. The policy was continued by his son, Taejong of Joseon, who created the "Office of Royal Genealogy" in 1401. The office existed for centuries, and a reformation was executed in 1864, during the reign of King Gojong. It was eventually abolished in 1907.After the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910, the former emperor Sunjong of Korea issued a decree, allowing the descendants of the royal family to form a private organization so as to strengthen the relationship within the clan. The said organization had a collection from Sunjong, a commemorative plaque with Sunjong's Chinese calligraphy handwriting on it, which reads 崇祖惇宗, but the plaque was later missing during the Korean War. On 27 November 1955, the members of the Jeonju Lee Royal Family Association held a foundation ceremony in the hall of Whimoon Middle School in Seoul, and the association was later officially registered as a legal organization on 3 April 1957. The hall of the Jeonju Lee Royal Family Association in the capital is called "Lee Hwa Building", located in Jongno District of Seoul.
In addition to domestic offices, the association currently opens several branch offices internationally, including seven offices in North America and one in Japan.
Organization
According to the statistics in 1995, there were 2.8 million people coming from the Jeonju Yi clan in South Korea, making up over 770 thousand Yi families, 230 thousand families from whom lived in Seoul. Among them, there were nationwide 44% population from the clan that are registered members of the Jeonju Lee Royal Family Association; in Seoul, similarly, there were specifically 39% of the clan that were registered.Within the association, there is a chairman, as the superior over vice-chairmen, supervisors, and members of the council; they are often family members with prominent figures in politics and/or economics. As various ways to support members from the clan, there are several sub-organizations, including one that can offer scholarship, committees for academics and art, as well as ones dedicated to ancestral worship activities. Based on different genealogy among family members, 83 groups of the member can be classified; based on the places of residence, there are 15 sub-associations and 225 offices set, and there are also, for further district subdivision, branches in smaller administrative units. As to overseas sub-associations, there are ones in Japan and the United States.
| Regions | Seoul | Busan | Daegu | Incheon | Daejeon | Gyeonggi Province | Gangwon Province | North Chungcheong Province | South Chungcheong Province | North Jeolla Province | South Jeolla Province | North Gyeongsang Province | South Gyeongsang Province | Jeju Province | Japan | United States | Total |
| No. of offices | 22 | 12 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 29 | 18 | 12 | 16 | 18 | 25 | 23 | 25 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 225 |