"Actually most Koreans didn't think at all that we were ugly."

I'm going to have to steal from The Joshing Gnome one more time and share an excerpt from Hendrick Hamel's account in Korea. In this part Hamel and his captive shipmates are asking the king to let them go back to Japan, and they end up setting a terrible precedent:

Foreigners never received permission to leave the country. So we had to reconcile ourselves to staying in this country for the rest of our lives. To the custom of the country he invited us accordingly to amuse him with dancing, singing and clownish behavior. Though we fulfilled this obligation with little talent and as little enthusiasm, our performance was to the liking of the king and his court.

Whoa, dude, my first hagwon's name was "Avalon." You can find an English translation of his account here and the portion about "Chollado" is here. An excerpt:

. . . [The governor] sincerely pitied us and wondered why we didn't try to go to Japan. To this we answered that we didn't have the permission to do so and on top of that we didn't have a suitable ship at our disposal. At which he remarked mischievously that in these coastal villages there were enough ships at our disposal.

We assured him that we would never dare to make use of a ship which was not our property, because if we failed then, we would not only be punished for our attempt to escape but also for theft. We said this to make him not suspicious. Every time we said this, the governor had to laugh heartily.

I'm pretty sure the "SaesOng" refered to is present-day Yeosu. As the "Hamel Capsule System" tells us, in a summary of his journal:

Late February of the same year [1662], the superior office ordered to break them up to groups: 12 went to Yeosu (Saijsingh in the original text), 5 to Suncheon(Suintchien in the original text), and 5 went to Namwon (Namman in the original text).

For an interesting write-up about Hamel's ten-year exile in Gangjin, visit this site. An excerpt:

It is also possible that some men met local women and through marriage or otherwise fathered children, whose descendants still live here. The Dutch were given the Korean name Nam. There are several roots for the clan of Nam in Korea, but one originates from around Byeongyeong. And it is from this region, that many people named Nam have typical features like a large body and facial characteristics that may well be from the foreigners in the 17th century. When professor Kim Tae Jin of the Chonnam University in Gwangju did research on this subject, he encountered resistance and a lack of cooperation from the people, as it is regarded as shameful to have mixed blood and not to be of pure Korean breed. Maybe the grand grandparents of these nice old ladies could tell more! Long time ago, before the Korean war, a tall man from Byeongyeong with western facial features called Nam, moved to the north and became a general in the army. It is said that when the North Korean army raided this area, the village of Byeongyeong was spared on special orders from general Nam.