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Location of compatriot Yoon’s residence in China discovered

Location of compatriot Yoon’s residence in China discovered

Posted February. 24, 2014 08:05,   

한국어

The residence in Qingdao, China, where compatriot Yoon Bong-gil (1908-1932) with penname Maeheon stayed for one year before conducting patriotic act has been identified for the first time. Qingdao is the place where Yoon initially settled after taking overseas exile, and the discovery of his residence there is expected to give key clue to tracing his activities in China that have remained unknown thus far.

Kim Kwang-mahn, producer at the production company "The Channel" dedicated to documentaries on Korea’s modern history, said on Sunday, “Based on newly discovered historical materials, we have discovered the exact location of `Nikahara laundry shop’ in Qingdao where compatriot Yoon lived in 1930 and 1931.”

After finding at Japan’s parliament library related materials, including “Collection of commerce and industry maps in China” published in 1931, which shows the name and location of the place where Yoon lived, Kim visited Qingdao and identified the site in person. Currently, a bank branch is standing at the location where the laundry shop existed. It is located by a main street where Liaoning Road and Linji Road intersect in old city district in northeast Qingdao.

Qingdao is the place where Kim first settled when he moved to China after making a decision to join independence fight against Japan. “Qingdao is the place where compatriot Yoon concluded his personal matters and prepared himself to take courageous act for the future,” said Han Shi-joon, history professor at Dankuk University and expert on independence fight history. “An important piece of the puzzle in the history of Korean people’s independence fight movement has been found at last.”

The result of the survey presents the evidence by which to refer to the process of how Yoon entered “Hongkou Park” where he threw a lunchbox bomb at Japanese imperialists, which has been the biggest mystery in Yoon’s patriotic act. Now that Yoon’s life in Qingdao has been confirmed as reality, argument by compatriot Lee Gyu-chang (1913-2005) who claimed that Yoon was able to enter the venue of Japanese imperialists’ event by currying favor from the Japanese owner’ of the laundry shop is to gain ground.