[Opinion] Descendent of a National Independence Activist

Not many people know that the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs has selected a national independence activist every month and paid a tribute to his/her contribution to the nation. The activist of September is Choi Jae-hyeong (1858-1920), who excused himself from being the first minister of Financial Affairs of the provisional government of Korea. Born in a poor family in Gyeongwon, North Hamgyeong Province, Choi, at the age of nine, crossed the Duman River with his parents and settled down in the Maritime Province of Siberia. Against all odds, he gained enough fortune and influential power to make him notable. Changing his Korean name to Russian, Pyotr, he successfully made his name well known in the far eastern region and was even granted an audience by the emperor.

The Japanese army arrested Choi, who had led the independence movement in the Maritime Province of Siberia, and executed him by a firing squad. Since the tragedy, Choi’s eleven children left in Russia had gone through enormous hardships and adversity. In the 1930s, they, along with other Koreans, were forced to move to an unfamiliar region of Central Asia. “We had to hide our grandfather’s identity as a national independence activist,” said one of Choi’s grandchildren, Material Science Ph.D. Choi Valentine (66). However, this scientist, now the president of the Association of National Independence Activist Descendents, has a bitter memory.

In 1990, Choi was very pleased when he found out that, in 1962, the Korean government already had given an award to his grandfather honoring his dedication for the nation’s independence. That meant a lot to him since it showed the mother nation had not forgotten what his grandfather had done for her. All the adversity his family had gone through seemed to be rewarded. However, his joy soon turned into rage when he was informed that “fake descendents” who knew that Choi’s family was in Russia had lied to the Korean government and had taken benefits from it for almost 30 years. They abused the fact that Korea had no diplomatic ties with Russia at that time so that there was no way for the government to check out their story. Later, when the “real descendents” appeared, the government belatedly gave the award back to the real Choi family.

At first, Choi intended to find the fake descendents and blame them. However, he decided not to. That is because he knew his grandfather’s sacrifice was not intended for any reward from the country, and somehow it seemed enough that they got their grandfather’s honor back. Choi has lived on as low as a 200,000 won monthly pension that the Russian government has provided, now spending all his time and effort collecting information about Korean patriots in Russia who had taken part in the independence movement. Once, the Choi family had long been forgotten, even by the mother nation, and it still has not received enough of an award. But, though far away, they have kept the honor of their grandfather, which makes them the true descendents of national independence activists.

Kim Gi-hyeon, Moscow correspondent, kimkihy@donga.com