User:MargaretRDonald/sandbox/Park Sang-jin

Park Sang-jin (hangul: 박상진, hanja:朴尙鎭, December 7, 1884 – August 13, 1921) was a Korean independence activist during the occupation of Korea by Japan. His pen-name was Goheon (固軒). He served as commander-in-chief of the Korean Liberation Association from its inception until 1918.

Life
Born to a family of Confucian scholars in Ulsan, Gyeongsangnam-do, he spent his infancy in Miryang, Gyeongsangnam-do. Later, as a renowned Confucian scholar in the Yeongnam region, he started a righteous army movement and studied under Heo Heo, who was executed.

After graduating, he passed the judge's exam, but on being appointed resigned. In 1911 he went to meet with exiles in Manchuria (Heo Gyeom's older brother, Lee Sang -ryong, Kim Dong-sam, Son Il-min, and Kim Dae-rak).

On returning to Korea, he established Sangdeok Taesanghoe (상덕태상회, 尙德泰商會) in Daegu to support overseas independence movement funds and to use it as a contact point for Andong Samdal Yanghang, Changchun Sangwon Yanghang, and Jilin. Organized and worked in groups. This group, centered on enlightenment activists, soon organized the Korean Liberation Association in association with the former Righteous Army activists-centered Punggi Liberation Association formed by Chae Gi-jung and others, and Park Sang-jin served as the general commander of the Liberation Association.

The program of the Liberation Association stipulated that military funds were to be semi-forcedly donated by rich people and used to fund the independence movement, that a school for the armed independence movement be built and operated in Manchuria, and that Japanese dignitaries and Korean pro-Japanese figures were to be punished (assassinated).

While raising funds for the independence movement, he also punished wealthy pro-Japanese people such as Jang Seung-won (father of Jang Jik-sang and Jang Taek-sang) and other pro-Japanese people in Chilgok who did not cooperate. In 1918, he was arrested and sentenced to death. A plan was devised to free him, but it was not implemented, and after four years imprisonment, he was executed by hanging in Daegu prison.

Posthumous awards
In 1962, the Order of Merit for Founding Independence was posthumously issued.

Ancestry

 * Uncle: Park Si-ryong
 * Father: Park Si-gyu
 * Wife: Youngbaek Choi, daughter of Hyungyo Choi
 * Only son: Park Kyung-joong
 * Grandson: Park Wi-dong

Miscellaneous
He was the cousin of Choi Jun, the 12th descendant of the richest family in Gyeongju and the last richest man. In addition, Jang Seung-won, whom he executed, was a distant relative to his mother's and wife's families, and the two families had a marriage relationship with the Yangcheon Heo family of Chilgok.

Invoice from Sangdeok Taesanghoe & other relics from the liberation society.

Using the memorial site
Park Sang-jin was born on December 7, 1884, in Jidang-ri, Nongso-myeon, Eulsan Dohobu, Gyeongsang-do, now Jidang Village, Songjeong-dong, Buk-gu, Ulsan.

In 1897, he studied under Wangsan Heo (旺山 許蔿, 1855-1908), who was a former righteous army commander, which raised his anti-foreign national consciousness.

In 1907, he entered Yangjeong Middle School and High School (then known as Yangchunguisuk 양정의숙) and studied law and economics,  graduating three years later in 1910. He was appointed a judge in the Pyongyang court but resigned (refused to take up the position), and in 1911 went to Manchuria to confer with independence activists such as Heo Gyeom, Son Il-min, Kim Dae-rak, Lee Sang-yong, and Kim Dong-sam about strategies for the independence struggle.

In 1912, he established Sangdeok Taesanghoe (상덕 태상회, 尙德泰商會) in Daegu together with Kim Deok-ki and Oh Hyuk-tae This allowed the creation of a network of contacts (grain merchants in Manchuria), and provided a basis for funding the independence association's activities.

In 1913, the Daehangwangbokdan (大韓光復團), the first secret organized anti-Japanese armed independence association was formed in Punggi-eup, Yeongju City.

In 1915, Park Sang-jin joined this association and it was renamed the Korean Liberation Association (大韓光復會).

In January 1915, in Dalseong, Gyeongsangbuk-do (now Dalseong-gun, Daegu Metropolitan City), the Korean Liberation Association (Joseon Sovereignty Restoration Group 朝鮮國權恢復團), an organization supporting the independence army and a secret society, was formed. It was organized for the purpose of national sovereignty recovery movement, and carried out various activities such as raising national consciousness through enlightenment, sharing information with foreign independence movement organizations, and raising military funds.

In July 1915, in Daegu, Gyeongsangbuk-do, he organized the Korean Liberation Association in collaboration with the Punggi Gwangbokdan (豊基光復團) and was inaugurated as the commander-in-chief.

On December 24, 1915, he ordered Woo Jae-ryong and Kwon Young-man to seize a carriage carrying taxes collected by the Japanese at the time in Gyeongju. (Gwangmyeong-ri, Gyeongju tax mail wagon stealing case)

In 1916, he expanded the independence movement organization by establishing contact points not only in the 8 provinces in Korea but also overseas such as in Jilin, Dandong, and Changchun in China.

On September 4, 1916, Jeong Woon-il, Choi Byeong-gyu, Kim Jin-man, Kim Jin-woo, Kwon Sang-seok, and Lim Byeong-ha were ordered to punish Suh Du-soon, a pro-Japanese rich man in Daegu, but the plan failed. (Daegu Pistol Incident)

After being released from prison in July 1917, he worked hard to raise funds for the military. In the process, he requested financial support from pro-Japanese wealthy men, such as Jang Seung-won, Yang Jae-hak, and Seo Do-hyeon, but when they refused, on November 10, Chae Ki-joong, Yoo Chang-soon, Kang Soon-pil, and Im Bong-ju punished Jang Seung-won, and on January 24 of the following year, Kim Han-jong and Jang Doo-hwan Park Yong-ha is punished by the back.

However, Jang Doo-hwan, who participated in the murder of Park Yong-ha, was arrested, leading to the organization of the Korean Liberation Association being discovered, and thus in February 1918, Park Sang-jin was also arrested by the Japanese police.

Awarded the death penalty by the Daegu District Court, and after four years in prison, he was executed by hanging in the Daegu Prison, on August 11, 1921.