I spent two years in Korea as a guest of the U.S. Air Force, and while I may have left Korea, Korea has never left me. About ten years ago, I stumbled upon a Korean Order. It took a lot of work, but I eventually was able to identify it. In doing the research however, I found that the majority of the information available was either incomplete or in some cases completely erroneous. I started gathering all of the information that I could find, hoping to make some sense of it. It took about 5 years before it finally dawned on me, that a book on the History of Korean Orders and Medals was sorely needed. I am currently writing that book, but there are a number of areas that remain a mystery. In 1999, I received permission from the Korean Government to visit their Office of Protocol: Orders and Medals Department. I subsequently spent three weeks in Korea and was able gather a significant amount of information, but in dealing with the Department, I found that even their official histories were not always "Clear and Concise". Until I can resolve some of the mysteries, I cannot say when I will be able to publish. As part of this research effort, I maintain a reference collection of Korean Orders, Medals, Decorations, Badges, Pictures, Documents, Government Publications, etc. I am extremely interested in obtaining more items for eventual publication. If you have anything which would benefit this effort, I would be deeply obligated in hearing from you. I will be more than happy to give full source credits.