Truth and Reconciliation Commission Recognizes Late Park Chaeyoung's Anti-Japanese Independence Activities

Organization and Activities of Yeosu Reading Club
Arrested by Japanese Police and Sentenced to 2 Years Imprisonment

The 2nd Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Truth and Reconciliation Commission) recognized the anti-Japanese independence movement achievements of Mr. Park Chaeyoung, who was active in Yeosu, Jeonnam during the Japanese colonial period.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 26th, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission announced that at its 81st meeting, it decided to investigate the truth about Mr. Park's anti-Japanese independence movement activities and recommended that the state take measures to restore the honor of the deceased.

Mr. Park began his anti-Japanese movement in Yeosu by joining a reading club in the Yeosu area in August 1929. In June 1930, he took charge of guiding the reading club in Yeosu and organized secret societies such as the Social Science Research Association and the Youth Vanguard Alliance, distributing propaganda leaflets to raise anti-Japanese awareness. In July 1932, he organized the Yeosu Red Labor Union Preparatory Committee and acted as the head of the dissolved labor department, involving himself in the allied strike of port transportation workers.

In 1936, Mr. Park was arrested by the Japanese police for violating the Public Security Preservation Act and was sentenced to two years in prison. Later, in 1948, he was sentenced to death due to the Yeosu-Suncheon October 19 Incident (Yeosunsa Incident) and was killed in January of the following year in Manseong-ri, Yeosu. Seventy-five years after the death sentence, in October last year, the Suncheon Branch of the Gwangju District Court acquitted him through a retrial.

Meanwhile, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission decided to investigate the truth regarding the sacrifice of 125 residents of Yeongam-gun, Jeonnam, and 2 residents of Miryang, Gyeongnam, who were victims due to alleged cooperation with partisans before and after the Korean War. It also decided to investigate the truth about the incident in which 71 Christians were sacrificed by hostile forces at 30 churches in the Chungcheong area around the same period. Furthermore, it decided to investigate the truth about the incident in which 14 residents of Gochang-gun, Jeonbuk, were sacrificed during military and police suppression operations after the outbreak of the Korean War, recommending the state apologize and take measures to restore damages.