Kim Chwa-jin or Kim Jwa-jin (December 16, 1889 – January 24, 1930), sometimes called by his pen name Baegya, was a Korean general, independence activist, and

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessar ...

who played an important role in the early attempts at development of

anarchism in Korea Anarchism in Korea dates back to the Korean independence movement in Korea under Japanese rule (1910-1945). Korean anarchists federated across their end of the continent, including forming groups on the Japanese mainland and in Manchuria, but th ...

Biography

Kim was born in

Hongseong County Hongseong (''Hongseong-gun'') is a county in South Korea, and the capital of South Chungcheong Province. The current governor is Yeoung Lock Lee. The original name of the city is ''Hongju''. Symbols * The flag represents the Joyang Gate along w ...

Chungcheong Province Chungcheong (''Chungcheong-do''; ) was one of the eight provinces of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty. Chungcheong was located in the southwest of Korea. The provincial capital was located at Gongju, which had been the capital of the kingdom o ...

on December 16, 1889 as the second son of Kim Hyeong-gyo. He was part of a wealthy family of the

Andong Kim {{unreferenced, date=December 2014 The Andong Kim clan ( Hangul: 안동 김씨, Hanja: 安東金氏) refers to two Korean clans. They were prominent yangban families during Korea's Joseon Dynasty originating from Andong, North Gyeongsang pro ...

lineage. Kim was described as a broad-minded and intelligent child. When he was 3 years old, his father died, and he grew up under strict education by his mother, Hansan Yi. In 1904, he married Oh Sook-geun. Kim Chwa-chin moved to Seoul in 1905 in order to attend an Army Military Academy, later establishing the Namyeon School in 1907, where modern academic disciplines were taught. When Kim was 18, he released 50 families of

slaves Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

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. Kim also organized branches of the Korea Association and the Association for the Performing Arts in Hongseong to spread the ideology of Korean national liberation. In 1909, he served as a director of the Hansung-Sik Company. He established a northwestern academic institution with An and Yi Kap, and established the Oh Sung-sung School as its affiliated educational institution to serve as vice president. He also helped establish a youth student association. In 1911, he visited Jokdol Kim Jong-geun in Donui-dong, a fund-raising institution, to establish the Independence Military Academy in northern Gando. However, he ended up being sent to

Seodaemun Prison Seodaemun Prison History Hall is a museum and former prison in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, South Korea. It was constructed beginning in 1907. The prison was opened on October 21, 1908, under the name Gyeongseong Gamok. During the early part of the Japa ...

for two years and six months, for his subversive activities. During his sentence, he encountered

Kim Gu Kim Gu (, ; August 29, 1876 – June 26, 1949), also known by his pen name Baekbeom (백범; ), was a Korean statesman. He was the sixth, ninth, and president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea; a leader of the Korean indepen ...

. After his release from prison in 1913, he wrote a poem, "If a man makes a mistake, it is difficult to tolerate, and if the governor tries to live, he must wait again." In 1916, Kim joined the Korea Liberation Corps, which was formed by Park Sang-jin and Chae Ki-joong, together with Nobalin and Shin Hyun-dae. In 1918, he fled to

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer M ...

to escape the Japanese rule of Korea, and there signed the

Korean Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence is the statement adopted by the 33 ethnic representatives meeting at Taehwagwan, the restaurant located in Insa-dong, Jongno District, Seoul on March 1, 1919, after World War I, which announced that Korea would ...

together with 39 other Korean representatives, a prelude to the March 1st Independence Movement. 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). His first action was to install a military center in the mountains of Wangqing County, where he himself became an educator on military leadership. Training under him was strict, and the tasks given to most of the troops under his command was focused on acquiring weapons. In September 1920, 298 people graduated from the First Military Academy. When the Japanese military unit was sent to

in October to eliminate the Korean independence forces, it met with Japanese troops in Cheongsan-ri, while moving its independence forces to Mount Baekdu. On October 21, the Battle of Cheongsanri took place after the Battle of Godonghae, starting with Baegun-ri, Baegung, on October 26. In particular, the Northern Korean military regime led by General Kim Chwa-chin contributed greatly to the victory in Cheongsanri by winning a great victory in the Battle of Baegun Pyeongjoon, Gonjeongjeon, and Eorang Village. This victory, where Kim's forces caused around 1200 casualties to the 3000 Japanese soldiers, was a landmark in the battle for independence. Later that year, he went with the Northern Korean army and arrived at the North Manju Milsan Mountain near

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

. About 10 groups of independence fighters united and took office as vice president of the Korean Liberation Army. When many people moved to northern Russia on a silver lining to support the independence of small ethnic groups, Kim crossed the red river. But it had thought that he returned to Manchuria to reunite and wait for the scattered comrades, and in March 1925, he founded Sinminbu and became vice chairman of the military and commander of the army. In addition, a school was established as the first place to teach and train elite military officers. At that time, the

Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea The Korean Provisional Government (KPG), formally the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, was a partially recognized Korean government-in-exile based in Shanghai, China, and later in Chongqing, during the period of Japanese co ...

appointed him as a member of the Cabinet. Kim did not take office and instead concentrated only on leading the independence forces. When many officials were captured by the Japanese government in 1927, the new administration was reorganized to lead the new administration as chairman of the Central Committee of the Commission. In 1928, the

Korea Independence Party The Korea Independence Party (; KIP) was a political party in South Korea. History The party was established in Shanghai by Kim Koo in 1928, uniting a faction of conservative members of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea hea ...

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 Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

and

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

independence activists intensified. On January 24, 1930, Kim Jwa-jin was assassinated by Park Sang-sil, an agent of the

Japanese colonial government The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of Japan, 1947 constitutio ...

. Just before he died, Kim Jwa-jin said, “What to do… I have to die at this time with so much work to do. How regrettable...” Three years after his death, his wife, Oh Sook-geun, recovered his remains and buried them in Hongseong, his hometown.

Acts

Kim Chwa-chin had recognized and fought against

Japanese imperialism This is a list of regions occupied or annexed by the Empire of Japan until 1945, the year of the end of World War II in Asia, after the surrender of Japan. Control over all territories except most of the Japanese mainland (Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyu ...

from an early stage. In 1919 Kim established the ''Northern military administration office army'' (북로군정서군, 北路軍政署軍). General Kim leads the Korean Independence Army in the Battle of Cheongsanri. Afterward General Kim was appointed as the chairman of an executive committee at the age of 38 and attempted to integrate the Independence Movement groups in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

and

. When anarchist and nationalist groups founded a rebel community in Manchuria in the province of

Shinmin The Korean People's Association in Manchuria (KPAM, August 1929 – September 1931) was an autonomous anarchist zone in Manchuria near the Korean borderlands, populated by two million Korean migrants. The society was constructed upon princip ...

in 1929, Kim Chwa-chin was chosen to lead its armed forces. He was charged with organizing and leading guerrilla attacks on the Japanese. Though the Japanese soldiers were far more experienced and better armed than Chwa-chin's band, Kim's attacks were successful both in defending the young

community of

, and in encouraging other groups in northeast Asia to resist the occupiers. Kim was assassinated in 1930 while repairing a rice mill the Korean Anarchist Federation had built in Shinmin. Although his assassin was never found, the assassin's handler was caught and executed.

Shinmin after Kim Chwa-chin

After the assassination of Kim Chwa-chin, the anarchist movement in

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 after the Japanese ...

and Korea became subject to massive repression.

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

sent armies to attack Shinmin from the south, while pro-

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Ta ...

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 The Korean independence movement was a military and diplomatic campaign to achieve the independence of Korea from Japan. After the Japanese annexation of Korea in 1910, Korea's domestic resistance peaked in the March 1st Movement of 1919, whic ...

, 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.

Family

*Father - Kim Hyeong-gyu (김형규, 金衡圭) ** Grandfather - Kim Byeong-jo (김병호, 金炳皓) * Mother - Yi Sang-hee (이상희), Lady Yi of the Hansan Yi clan (한산 이씨) * Siblings ** Older brother - Kim Gyeong-jin (김경진, 金敬鎭) ** Older sister - Kim Ok-chul (김옥출) ** Younger brother - Kim Dong-jin (김동진, 金東鎭) (29 November 1891 - 13 March 1938) *First Wife - Oh Suk-geun (오숙근, 吳淑根), Lady Oh of the

Haeju Oh clan Haeju Oh clan () is a Korean clan. Their Bon-gwan is in Haeju, Hwanghae Province. , the clan has a membership of 422735. Their founder was , who was the governor of Haeju county during the era of Goryeo.{{cite web , url=https://terms.naver.com/e ...

(해주 오씨, 海州吳氏) (1887 - 1958) — No issue. *Second Wife - Kim Gye-wol (김계월) — No issue. * Third Wife - Na Hye-guk (나혜국, 羅惠國) (1901 - 28 November 1992) ** Daughter - Kim Seok-chul (김석출) (28 February 1922 - 26 July 2005) ** Son - Kim Cheol-han (김철한) *** Grandson - Kim Won-dong (김원동) * Fourth Wife - Kim Yeong-seok (김영석) ** Son - Kim Du-han *** Daughter-in-law - Yi Jae-hee (이재희, 李載熙) (1924 - 4 August 1986)She is an 18th generation descendant of Grand Prince Hyoryeong ****Granddaughter - Kim Eul-dong **** Grandson-in-law - Song Jeong-eung (송정웅, 宋政雄) (2 September 1945 - ) *****Great-grandson - Song Il-gook ***** Great-granddaughter - Song Song-yi (송송이) (17 May 1973 - ) **** Grandson - Kim Hyeon-dong (김현동) *** Daughter-in-law - Kim Bu-mi (김부미, 金富美) (1917 - 1999) **** Granddaughter - Kim Yeong-chae (김영채) **** Grandson - Kim Gyeong-dong (김경동) or Kim Gyeong-min (김경민, 金慶珉) (1955 - ) **** Grandson - Kim Hyeon-seong (김현성) *** Daughter-in-law - Kim Sun-ok (김순옥, 金順玉) (1945 - ?) **** Grandson - Kim Beom-sang (김범상) *** Daughter-in-law - Park Jeong-in (박정인, 朴貞仁) (1933 - ?) **** Grandson - Kim Ju-taek (김주택) ** Daughter - Kim Kang-seok (김강석)

In popular culture

* Kim was portrayed by Choi Dong-joon in the 2002-2003 SBS TV series ''

Rustic Period ''Rustic Period'' (), lit. ''The Age of Wild Men'', is a South Korean television series aired from July 29, 2002 to September 30, 2003 on SBS. It focused on the life of historical figure Kim Du-han, a former mob leader turned politician, and th ...

''.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

Profile by the Hongseong County government
*
Kim Jwa-jin Memorial League
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Chwa-chin 1889 births 1930 deaths Anarchist partisans Anarcho-communists Gim clan of Andong Guerrillas People imprisoned on charges of terrorism Korean anarchists Korean generals Korean independence activists Murdered anarchists People from Hongseong County