Reconsidering the Life and Korean Independence Activities of Song Mong-gyu 

Author: Lee, kye-hyung

Page: 185-221

This study aims to reconstruct the independence activities of Song Mong-gyu and to correct erroneous historical accounts surrounding his life and activism. Born in 1917 as a second-generation Korean migrant in Gando, Song developed a strong sense of national consciousness in Myeongdong Village and Yongjeong, which led him to participate in the Korean independence movement. In April 1935, with the intention of enrolling in the Luoyang branch of the Central Military Academy of the Republic of China, he left Yongjeong and, in May of the same year, entered the Korean Special Task Force Student Training Institute in Nanjing, which had been established by Kim Gu. When he judged that admission to the military academy would be difficult, Song left Nanjing in October 1935 and moved to Jinan in search of new opportunities for independence activities. However, as conditions there also proved unfavorable, he returned to Yongjeong in March 1936. In 1944, while studying in Japan, Song Mong-gyu and Yun Dong-ju anticipated Japan’s impending defeat and attempted to organize a secret nationalist group among Korean students in Kyoto. They were arrested by the Japanese Special Higher Police and charged in what became known as the Kyoto Korean Student Nationalist Group Incident. Song was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment and died while incarcerated in Fukuoka Prison. Despite his involvement in the independence movement, existing records of Song Mong-gyu’s activities contain numerous inaccuracies. Several encyclopedias and the Register of Meritorious Independence Patriots include erroneous accounts, such as claims that Song received military training in Nanjing under the direct guidance of Kim Gu. Similar factual errors appear in Wikipedia and the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture. These distortions stem largely from the lack of systematic scholarly research on Song Mong-gyu. By reexamining primary sources, this study seeks to correct these inaccuracies and to reconstruct the historical reality of Song Mong-gyu’s independence activities.