Remains of Late Independence Activists Ho Sihan and Lee Gwal to Return Home

Remains to Be Repatriated from U.S. and Uzbekistan... Bringing Total to 158 from 15 Countries

The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs announced on November 13 that, ahead of the 87th Patriots and Veterans Day on November 17, it would repatriate the remains of independence activists Ho Sihan and Lee Gwal, who had been buried in the United States and Uzbekistan. The remains of the two activists, together with those of their spouses, will arrive in Korea via Incheon International Airport on November 15. Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs Kwon Oeul will personally receive them at the airport.

A repatriation ceremony will be held on November 16 at the March 1 Independence Declaration Memorial Tower in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul. The two activists are to be laid to rest at the National Cemetery in Daejeon.

Late independence activist Ho Sihan

Activist Ho Sihan, born in 1885, was arrested by the Japanese authorities in May 1919 after planning to raise funds for the independence movement in Korea, shortly after the March 1 Movement. He later provided support on several occasions, including contributions to the Chinese Anti-Japanese War Relief Fund, the Korean Liberation Army Support Fund, and the Military Movement Fund. He died in Los Angeles, California, in 1956. He was posthumously awarded the Order of Merit for National Foundation, Patriotic Medal, in 2021.

Activist Lee Gwal, born in 1898, moved to Manchuria as a child, joined a Korean organization in the Russian Far East in 1919, and served as a diplomat for the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea in the early 1920s. During the forced deportation of Koreans from the Russian Far East in October 1937, he was forcibly relocated to Uzbekistan, where he eventually died. He was posthumously awarded the National Foundation Medal in 2009. Lee Gwal is the first independence activist buried in Uzbekistan whose remains are being repatriated.

Through its program to repatriate the remains of independence activists buried overseas, the government has brought home the remains of 156 activists from 14 countries, including activist Park Eunsik from China, Dr. Philip Jaisohn from the United States, and General Hong Beom-do from Kazakhstan. Including this repatriation, 158 activists from 15 countries will be laid to rest in their homeland. The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs has identified 240 graves of independence activists buried overseas in 10 countries, including China, the United States, and Kazakhstan, and plans to repatriate their remains after consulting with their descendants.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.