Gov't to award 128 patriots on Patriotic Martyrs Day

Gov't to award 128 patriots on Patriotic Martyrs Day. November. 16, 2018 07:49. by Hyo-Ju Son hjson@donga.com.
The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs said Thursday that it will posthumously award 128 independence fighters with the Orders of Merit for National Foundation, the National Foundation Medals, or the Presidential Medals on the occasion of the 79th Day of the Patriotic Martyrs.

Among them are An Maek-gyeol, a niece of independence activist An Chang-ho, who will be awarded the National Foundation Medal. She was arrested by the Japanese authorities for participating in an anti-Japanese rally in October 1919 as a student at Sungeui Girls' School in Pyongyang. In 1937, she was also imprisoned after being arrested when Japan rounded up some 180 Korean intellectuals involved in an independence organization founded by An Chang-ho.

Kaneko Fumiko, the Japanese wife of Korean independence fighter Pak Yol, will also receive the Patriotic Medal of the Orders of Merit for National Foundation. She will become the second Japanese to receive the order. She died in 1926 while serving a prison term for smuggling bombs to help Pak assassinate the then Japanese emperor and his son.