Yi Beom-jin (1852–1911) served as Korea's first resident minister to Russia in Saint Petersburg from 1901. After the 1905 protectorate treaty he refused orders to close the legation and continued unofficial diplomatic work until 1910. In 1907 he sent his son Yi Wi-jong as a secret envoy to the Hague Peace Conference and petitioned Tsar Nicholas II to protect the delegation, and in 1908 funded anti-Japanese militia activity in the Russian Far East through his son. On January 26, 1911, in despair over Korea's annexation, he took his own life. He was posthumously awarded the Order of Merit for National Foundation in 1991.
Grave
He was buried in the Uspenskoye Cemetery (now the Northern Cemetery) outside Saint Petersburg, but his remains were lost during Soviet-era cemetery reorganization and have never been recovered.