Kim Chwa-chin

In this Korean name, the family name is Kim.

Kim Chwa-chin 김좌진 金佐鎭
Born	(1889-11-24)24 November 1889 Hongseong County, Chungcheong Province, Korea (now Hongseong County, South Korea)
Died	24 January 1930(1930-01-24) (aged 40) Shanshi town, Ning'an, Jilin Province, China (now Hailin, Mudanjiang, Heilongjiang Province, China)
Spouses	Oh Suk-geun Kim Gye-wol Na Hye-guk Kim Yeong-seok
Children	Kim Du-han
Parents	Kim Hyeong-gyu (father) Yi Sang-hee (mother)
Relatives	Kim Eul-dong (granddaughter) Song Il-gook (great grandson) Kim Ok-gyun (distant relative)
Family	Andong Kim clan
Korean name
Hangul	김좌진
Hanja	金佐鎭
Revised Romanization	Gim Jwajin
McCune–Reischauer	Kim Chwajin
Art name
Hangul	백야
Hanja	白冶
Revised Romanization	Baegya
McCune–Reischauer	Paegya

Kim Chwa-chin (Korean: 김좌진; 24 November 1889 – 24 January 1930), sometimes called by his art name Baegya, was a Korean general, independence activist, and anarchist who played an important role in the early attempts at development of anarchism in Korea.

Biography

When Kim was 18, he released 50 families of slaves when he publicly burned the slave registry and provided each family with enough land to live on. This was the first emancipation of slaves in modern Korea.

He joined the Korea Justice Corps, which focused on Senol, took military responsibility, reorganized the definition group into the military department, and was recommended as the commander. In 1919, he, on the recommendation of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, took up the position of general commander of the Northern Military Administration Office Army (Bungnogunjeongseo in Korean).

In 1928, the Korea Independence Party was formed, and in 1929, when the Korean General Association was established as the successor of the new people, Chwa-chin was designated as the President. During this process, conflicts between the nationalist and communist independence activists intensified. On 24 January 1930, Kim Jwa-jin was assassinated by Park Sang-sil, a Korean agent incited by the Japanese Colonial Government.

Legacy

After the assassination of Kim Chwa-chin, the anarchist movement in Manchukuo and Korea became subject to massive repression. Japan sent armies to attack Shinmin from the south, while pro-Kuomintang forces attacked from the north. By the summer of 1931, Shinmin's most prominent anarchists were dead, and the war on two fronts was becoming untenable. The anarchists went underground and anarchist Shinmin was no more.

As a leader of the Korean independence movement, Kim is remembered in both North and South Korea. In 1991, the town of Hongseong restored his birthplace. A festival is now held in his honor every October.

See also

• Korean independence movement
• Rustic Period, 2002 television series about the Korean independence movement

Bibliography

• Ha Ki-rak (1986). History of the Korean anarchist movement. Taegu: Anarchist Publishing Committee. OCLC 937149346.
• Jang-Whan, O. H. (2009). "Kim Joa-jin (1889–1930)". In Ness, Immanuel (ed.). The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest. p. 1. doi:10.1002/9781405198073.wbierp0854. ISBN 9781405198073.

External links

• Profile by the Hongseong County government
• (in Korean) Kim Jwa-jin Memorial League
• (in Korean) KoreanDB profile