Woman Next to Yoon Couple Rumored as 'Musician'... Actually Great-Granddaughter of Independence Activist

Great-granddaughter of independence activist Jang Seong-sun, Byeon Hae-won
Byeon placed next to President Yoon as a courtesy for coming from afar

President Yoon Suk-yeol and First Lady Kim Keon-hee are saluting the national flag at the 77th Liberation Day celebration held on the lawn of the Yongsan Presidential Office building in Seoul on the 15th.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Gun-chan] A claim has been made that the woman standing next to President Yoon Suk-yeol and his wife at the Liberation Day celebration ceremony was a close aide of First Lady Kim Keon-hee. However, it was revealed that the woman is actually Byeon Hae-won, the great-granddaughter of an independence activist who served as the head of security for the Korean National Association and was sentenced to death for killing a Japanese imperial spy.

The 77th Liberation Day celebration ceremony was held on the 15th at the lawn yard of the Presidential Office in Yongsan, Seoul, with about 300 attendees including patriots, independence activists, and their families.

The day after the Liberation Day ceremony, a post titled "That Familiar Person Next to Kim Keon-hee Today" appeared on an online community with a pro-Democratic Party stance. The author claimed that the "woman in the pink jacket" sitting to the right of President Yoon was a close aide of First Lady Kim who had been involved in past controversies. This post spread to other online communities and social networking services (SNS).

However, this claim was proven false. According to the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs on the 17th, the woman in question was not a close aide of Kim but Byeon Hae-won, the great-granddaughter of independence activist Jang Seong-sun. Byeon, a U.S. citizen, entered the country with her family to attend the Liberation Day event, and the Presidential Office arranged her seat next to President Yoon as a courtesy to her as a distinguished guest from afar.

Jang Seong-sun was an individual who served as the head of security for the Korean National Association organized in Northern Gando in 1919. He established local branches and was responsible for raising military funds. In July 1920, he shot and killed Lee Deok-seon, a Japanese imperial spy who was obstructing the independence movement. He was captured by the police in December of the same year and sentenced to death in 1922. While awaiting execution, his sentence was commuted to 12 years and 6 months in prison. In recognition of his merits, the government posthumously awarded him the Order of Merit for National Foundation, Patriotic Medal, in 1990.