Gov’t to honor 282 late independence fighters with state awards to mark Liberation Day

Korea will confer state medals and awards on 283 late independence fighters to honor their roles in the resistance movement against Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula, the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs said Thursday.

The ministry plans to confer the Order of Merit for National Foundation on 65 people, the National Foundation Medal on 29 and the Presidential Commendation for National Foundation on 189 people on the occasion of the Aug. 15 Liberation Day.

Among them were three miners who led an independence protest with some 100 miners in March 1919 by marching toward a Japanese police post before they were shot to death.

Choe Jun-nye, the wife of renowned independence fighter Kim Koo, will be recognized for her role in supporting her husband while he was imprisoned for four years and for leading a women's enlightenment movement by serving as a teacher at a girls' school.

The ministry will also award Kim Duk-rin, a Korea-born Chinese actor better known as Jin Yan, for starring in many movies that encouraged anti-Japanese sentiment in the 1930s.

The ministry said it seeks to shed light on those who have not been properly recognized for their roles in the country's independence movement, including women, workers and cultural figures, adding that their belated recognition is the result of historical records and on-site inspections.

The ministry has honored 19,059 people as independence patriots since the establishment of the Korean government in 1948. Of them, 11,999 were given the Orders of Merit for National Foundation, 1,600 of them the National Foundation Medal and 5,460 of them the Presidential Commendation for National Foundation.

Yonhap