User:Dckewon5131/최정규 (1881년)

Choi Jeong-gyu (25 August 1881 – 21 August 1940) was a professional pro-Japanese figure during the Japanese occupation and ran a secret service organization in Manchuria. Another name was Choi Chang-gyu.

the period of the Korean Empire
His hometown is Cheongjin-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul. The growth process is not well known, but in September 1909, when he was in his early 20s, he served as president of the Capital Public Corporation, and in November of the same year, he also operated Hansungbosa in charge of the housing loan business. Among them, Hansungbosa was closely related to Iljinhoe.

At the end of 1909, when Iljinhoe submitted an order for annexation of Japan under the name of 1 million members, a large number of forces who wanted to conclude the annexation treaty between Korea and Japan formed a group and expressed support for Iljinhoe.

At this time, Choi Jeong-gyu deceived the employees of Hansungshinbosa, which he operated, and submitted a pledge to sympathize with Iljinhoe's "Ilhan Comprehensive Statement" under the name of 2,000 employees, and was expelled from Hansungshinbosa in December 1909.

In February 1910, he worked as an executive secretary of the National Comrade for Friendship, which was financially supported by the Iljin Association, and continued to campaign for a joint petition until the annexation of Korea and Japan was completed the following year.

Japapnese colonial era
With the March 1st Movement in 1919, there was a big change in the Japanese empire's Joseon rule. As awareness of the international situation and the will to independence were raised, and the Japanese intention was revealed through the suppression of force on the March 1st Movement, independence movement bases were established overseas such as Manchuria and Shanghai. In response, Japan established a secret organization in Manchuria to set up the Manchurian Bominhoe in order to check the move, and entrusted Choi Jung-kyu with the post of chairman.

Choi Jeong-gyu announced the purpose of establishing the establishment to prevent the destruction of the Joseon people due to independence movements in various parts of the country, and the Manchurian Bominhoe conducted propaganda activities against Korean immigrants in Nammanju, leading the crackdown on armed anti-Japanese forces. It also collected information on the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea in Shanghai.

At this time, he arrested a number of anti-Japanese activists and handed them over to the Japanese army, assaulted and killed them himself, and even killed those who returned to the country. There was even a case of raping the sentence of one of the arrested suspects in the independent army and releasing the suspect in return.

Choi Jeong-gyu was selected as the chairman of the Bominhoe, which was written by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs as "the remnants of the Iljin Association that actively promoted the annexation of Korea and Japan." It is stated that it was because he was a member of the Jesuit Church, an emerging religion with a strong pro-Japanese nature of the Cheondogyo family.

The Bominhoe, which was organized after inheriting the rules of Iljinhoe, moved under the direction of the Japanese Kanto-gun.

It is recorded that hundreds of people were assassinated among the members of the Bominhoe and the Jesuits due to growing resentment against Choi Jeong-gyu and Bominhoe, who hunt down and kill the anti-Japanese forces.

The Independence Movement Group sent a warning to Choi Jung-gyu, saying, "We, Korean independence, were born to the Korean people, but there were many Korean soldiers who believed in his power and killed innocent civilians or beaters."

After declaring that the sin could never be forgiven, assassin Yoo Seok-jeong attempted to assassinate him around March 1924, but failed. On the evening of June 7, 1924, Choi Jeong-gyu himself was relieved by Kim Kwang-chu, Kim Byung-hyun, and Park Hee-kwang, a three-member assassination group of the Korean Communications Ministry, who were on the verge of assassination, but his mother-in-law was shot and his subordinate Heo Gyun died a few days later.

At the time, media reported that Choi Jung-kyu had been hated by the independence corps because he had originally killed many Koreans with pro-Japanese groups.

From 1920, he handed over the post of chairman of the Bo Min Association and worked as a commissioned officer and advisor to the Bominhoe of Japan, and returned to Korea in 1924, when the Manchurian Bominhoe was dissolved. When the Bominhoe was dissolved, the Japanese government recognized its contributions and distributed dissolution and consolation money.

While he was active in Manchuria, he embezzled a lot of public money and was personally useful, but this was not a problem because he was a person who "did his best for the country." After returning to Korea, he served as the president of the Grand General Jesuit Church, and for four years from 1925, he worked at the commission of the Central Committee of the Joseon Governor-General.

After death
Starting with the inclusion in the secret section of the pro-Japanese group's 708-member list released in 2002, it is included in the list of 195 people who are pro-Japanese anti-national acts determined by the Korean Committee on Pro-Japanese Anti-National Acts in 2007 and in the list of those who will be included in the pro-Japanese life dictionary released in 2008.

See more

 * 일진Iljinhoe회
 * the National Comrade of Friendship
 * the Manchurian Bominheo
 * the Jesuit Church