Kim Gu

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Kim Gu.jpg


Korean spelling
Hangeul 김구
Hanja 金 九
Revised
Romanization 		Gim Gu
McCune-
Reischauer 		Kim Ku

Kim Gu (born August 29, 1876 in Hwanghae Province , former Korea , today's North Korea , † June 26, 1949 in Seoul , South Korea ) was a Korean politician and independence activist .

Life

Kim Gu was born as the only son of farmer Kim Soon-young ( 김순영 ) and his wife Kwak Nack-won ( 곽낙원 ). His birth name was Kim Chang-ahm ( 김창암 ; 金昌 巖 ).

In 1893 he joined the Donghak movement . In 1894 he and his colleagues attacked the Haeju fortifications , but the attack failed. General An Tae-hoon ( 안태훈 ; 安泰勳 ; father of An Chung-gun ) of the royal troops assured the rebels a safe exit, but other troops attacked them. Kim escaped and went into hiding.

In February 1896 he killed the Japanese Tsuchida Josuke ( 土 田 譲 譲 ), disguised as a Korean , because he believed that he was involved in the murder of the Korean Queen Myeongseong . He was then arrested and detained in Haeju Prison and tortured. In 1898 he escaped from prison and fled to the Buddhist temple Magoksa . In 1905 he took part in the mass protests against the Japan-Korea Protectorate Treaty in Seoul , through which the Korean Empire became a protectorate of Japan and lost its sovereignty. He became a leading anti-Japanese independence activist . In 1911 he planned with other independence fighters to assassinate the Japanese governor general of Chosen Province Terauchi Masatake and was imprisoned again. Here he put his maiden name off and called himself from then on Baekbom Kim Gu , where Baekbom ( 백범 ; 白 凡 ) means "ordinary person". So he wanted to portray himself as a simple Korean citizen acting as a national patriot. After his release, he joined the March First Movement in 1919 , which was bloodily suppressed. Kim Gu went into exile in Shanghai and became Minister of Police in the Korean Provisional Government, which was established there . In June 1923, 48-year-old Kim became its prime minister. From 1926 to 1927 he was its first president. In 1930 he founded the Korean Independence Party . As a result of Japan's invasion of Manchuria, he approached the right-wing Chinese military Chiang Kai-shek . After Chiang's withdrawal to Chongqing in 1938 , he was again President of the Provisional Government in 1940 and on September 17, 1940, the Korean Liberation Army ( 광복군 ; 光復 軍 ) was founded under his leadership, which declared war on Japan and the German Reich in 1941 .

Kim Il-sung and Kim Gu (1948)

After the defeat of Japan, he returned to Korea in 1945. In 1947 he was replaced by Rhee Syng-man as President of the Provisional Government, who also became the first President of South Korea in 1948. Before that, Kim Gu met with Kim Il-sung on April 20, 1948 to discuss concrete steps to prevent the permanent division of Korea . Kim Gu was against the establishment of the state of South Korea in August 1948, when only the southern part of the Korean peninsula was under the rule of this government and would thereby consolidate the division. With that he turned against Rhee Syng-man. He was the victim of an assassination attempt by Ahn Doo-hee ( 안두희 ; 安 斗 熙 ) on June 26, 1949 , as a result of which he died.

He is posthumously honored as a national hero in North and South Korea .

literature

  • Doh Jin-soon (Ed.): Kim Koo - The Diary of Baekbeom . Abera Verlag, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-934376-70-3 .

Web links

Commons : Kim Koo  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Lee Wha-rang: Biography of Kim Gu in English ( Memento from June 5, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ a b c d Baekbom Kim Gu, the Founding Father of Korea , KBS World, July 2, 2010 (English).
  3. ^ Korean Provisional Government , Encyclopædia Britannica . Retrieved May 17, 2013.
  4. ↑ Jongsuk Chay (2002): Unequal Partners in Peace & War. Embossers. ISBN 978-0275971250 . Page 26 .
  5. ↑ Darkest days in Korean history , The Korea Times of September 28, 2012 (English).
  6. ↑ Short biography on willi-stengel.de. Retrieved May 14, 2013.
  7. ^ National Reunification Prize Winners , Korean Central News Agency, May 7, 1998. Retrieved May 17, 2013 (English).
  8. ↑ Descendant inherits noblesse oblige of independence fighter . In: The Korea Times, June 5, 2012.
personal data
SURNAME Kim, Gu
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 김구 (Hangeul); 金 九 (Hanja); Gim, Gu (revised Romanization); Kim, Gu (McCune-Reischauer); Kim, Ku; Kim, Koo; Kim, Chang-ahm (maiden name); 김창암 (Hangeul maiden name); 金昌 巖 (Hanja maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Korean politician and independence activist
DATE OF BIRTH August 29, 1876
PLACE OF BIRTH Province Hwanghae , former Korea , today's North Korea
DATE OF DEATH June 26, 1949
Place of death Seoul , South Korea