102nd Samiljeol Ceremony Awarding the Order of Merit for National Foundation, Patriotism Class
... 369 Independence Activists from Andong 'Nation's Highest Number'
[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Dong-wook] Andong City, Gyeongbuk Province, announced on the 28th that independence activists Kwon Mok-yong and Lee Pil, both from Andong, have been confirmed as recipients of the Independence Merit Award (Order of Merit for National Foundation, Patriotic Medal) in celebration of the 102nd March 1st Movement Day.
Andong City, which has been conducting a project to discover independence activists for three years from 2020 to 2022 in cooperation with the Gyeongbuk Provincial Independence Movement Memorial Hall, had submitted 26 candidates to the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs.
Kwon Mok-yong (權穆龍, 1909?1950) was from Gwang-eum-ri, Namhu-myeon, Andong. He was active in the Osaka branch of the Korean Communist Youth Association’s Japan Headquarters, engaging in youth and labor movements. In 1928, he was arrested in connection with the Japanese General Headquarters Incident. For this activity, on February 19, 1930, he was sentenced to three years in prison by the Osaka District Court for violating the Public Security Preservation Act and served his sentence at Takamatsu Prison in Shikoku.
Lee Pil (李?, 1909??) was from Togae-ri, Dosan-myeon, Andong County. In April 1928, he dropped out of the third grade at Gyeongseong Second High School and enrolled in Iprak School but dropped out in December of the same year.
After staying in Hiroshima and Tokyo, Japan, in 1930, he returned to Korea and in March 1931 organized the "Andong Com Group" with An Sang-yoon and Kwon Jung-taek. Due to these activities, he was arrested by the Andong Police Station in May 1933 and sentenced to two years and six months in prison with a four-year suspended sentence by the Daegu District Court in 1934. He served his sentence at Daegu Prison until February 11, 1936.
Kwon Mok-yong’s children consist of three sons and one daughter, currently living in Ulsan, Busan, and Gumi, while the whereabouts of Lee Pil’s surviving family are unknown.
As of December 31, 2020, the number of independence activists from Andong who were honored for their dedication during the Japanese colonial period reached 369, the highest among all basic local governments nationwide.
An official from Andong City stated, "Currently, 18 independence activists from Andong are under review by the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, and we hope that more will be honored this Liberation Day." He added, "We will continue to do our best to discover and investigate various types of unrecognized independence activists in cooperation with the Gyeongbuk Provincial Independence Movement Memorial Hall."
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