Gyeonggi-do Announces 21 Independence Activists Including Governor Joseonghwan on Temporary Government Establishment Day

Gyeonggi Province selected and revealed 21 individuals among the '80 Independence Activists of the Year,' a project commemorating the 80th anniversary of liberation, coinciding with the establishment day of the Provisional Government (April 11).

The project to select the 80 Independence Activists of the Year is jointly promoted by Gyeonggi Province and the Gwangbokhoe Gyeonggi Branch. It aims to highlight the achievements of 80 representative independence activists from among approximately 1,500 independence patriots in the Gyeonggi region.

At the recent Samiljeol (March 1st Movement) commemorative ceremony, Gyeonggi Province announced the first figure among the 80 as Cho So-ang. The revealed independence activists will be produced into character-specific webtoons and documentary videos.

Among the 21 individuals revealed on this day, many were related to the Provisional Government.

Specifically, Governor Cho Seong-hwan was a graduate of the Imperial Korean Army Military Academy and was active in the Shinminhoe with Ahn Chang-ho. He fled to Beijing, China, where he organized the Dongjesa with Shin Gyu-sik and announced the Great Unity Declaration. He served as the Military Affairs Director of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea and played a leading role in the establishment of the Korean Liberation Army. His birthplace, the 'Yeoju Botong-ri Old House' located in Daesin-myeon, Yeoju, has been designated as a National Folk Cultural Property.

Yeo Jun was an independence activist from Yongin who, in 1906, established the Seojeon Seosuk in Yongjeong, Bukgando with Lee Sang-seol, promoting a national salvation movement through education. Later, he fled to Manchuria and served as principal of the Shinheung Military Academy, dedicating himself to training independence fighters. He was also one of the 39 signatories of the 1918 Korean Independence Declaration.

Eom Hang-seop, born in Yeoju, was a close aide to Kim Gu and an independence activist who devoted himself to the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea. After participating in the March 1st Movement, he fled to China and contributed to the establishment and maintenance of the Korean Liberation Army until liberation. He also collaborated with the U.S. military OSS (Office of Strategic Services) to carry out domestic invasion operations.

Yeon Mi-dang, wife of Eom Hang-seop, was active in organizations such as the Shanghai Women's Youth League and the Korean Patriotic Women's Association in China during the Japanese colonial period, leading efforts to build a united anti-Japanese front within the independence movement. She made the wrapping cloth used to carry the lunchbox bomb employed in the assassination attempt by Yun Bong-gil.

In addition, there are ▲ Choi Ik-hyeon, a Confucian scholar who led the forefront of the anti-Japanese struggle ▲ Kang Ki-dong, a militia leader active in the Hwanghae and Gyeonggi areas ▲ Kwon Ae-ra, who led the Kaesong March 1st Independence Movement ▲ Nam Sang-mok, who devoted himself to militia struggles in the Yongin and Chungju regions ▲ Kim Gyo-heon, a master of Korean nationalist historiography ▲ Won Tae-woo, a righteous man from Anyang who avenged Ito Hirobumi ▲ Im Ok-yeo, a Gyeonggi militia leader ▲ Kim Hyuk, the top leader of the Shinminbu ▲ Kim Ik-sang, who threw a bomb at the Japanese Governor-General's Office ▲ Hong Jae-seol, who led the movement opposing Emperor Gojong's abdication ▲ Han Baek-bong, leader of the Seongnam Yuldong Independence March ▲ Won Sim-chang, an activist in the righteous struggle and a pioneer of the unification movement ▲ Jo Moon-gi, who led the bombing of the Bumin-gwan, the last armed anti-Japanese independence movement during the colonial period ▲ Kim Hyang-hwa, who led the Suwon Gisaeng Independence Movement ▲ the youngest independence activists, sisters So Eun-suk and So Eun-myeong ▲ and Choi Yong-shin, who devoted herself to rural enlightenment activities and education.

Gyeonggi Province will continue to reveal additional '80 Independence Activists of the Year' sequentially on major independence-related commemorative days.