The behind-the-scenes story of America's involvement in Korea in the 1880s as told through the private family letters of U.S. Navy ensign George Clayton Foulk, Washington's representative in Seoul. Writing with unique insight and irrepressible candor, Foulk recouns his single-handed struggle to represent the U.S. and help a beleaguered Korea in the face of State Department indifference, supported by little more than his salary as ensign.