Yu Gwansun

Yu Gwan-sun (December 16, 1902 – September 28, 1920) was a Korean independence activist.

She is particularly notable for her role in South Chungcheong during the March 1st Movement protests against Japanese colonial rule.

She has since become one of the most famous Korean independence activists and a symbol for the movement.

Yu Gwan-sun was born on December 16, 1902, near Cheonan, in South Chungcheong Province of Korea.

She was the second of three children.

Her bon-gwan is the Goheung Ryu clan.

Her family was influenced by her grandfather Ryu Yoon-gi and her uncle Ryu Joong-moo, who were Protestants, and she also grew up in this atmosphere.

She was considered an intelligent child and could memorize Bible passages after hearing them only once.

She attended the school Ewha Haktang, today known as Ewha Womans University, through a scholarship program that required recipients to work as a teacher after graduation.

At the time, few women in the country attended university.

In 1919 while a student at the Ewha Girls' High School, she witnessed the beginnings of the March First Independence Movement.

One of her teachers, Kim Ransa, encouraged Yu to join the student-led organization called Ewha Literary Society (E-mun-hai), which organized several peaceful protests.

Yu, along with a five-person group, attended several demonstrations in Seoul.

On March 10, 1919, all of the schools, including the Ewha Women's School, were temporarily closed by the Governor-General of Korea, and Yu returned home to Cheonan.

On March 1, 1919, Seoul was overflowing with marches by people nationwide protesting Japanese occupation of Korea.

After this protest, organizers arrived at Ewha Haktang and encouraged Yu and her friends to join a demonstration that would take place in three days on March 5, 1919.

Together with her classmates, Yu marched to Namdaemun in Central Seoul.

There, they were detained by the police, but were shortly freed after missionaries from their school negotiated for their release.

Yu left Seoul after the Japanese government ordered all Korean schools to close on March 10 in response to the protests.

She returned to her village of Jiryeong-ri (now Yongdu-ri) and there, she took a more active role in the movement.

Along with her family, Yu went door to door and encouraged the public to join the independence movement, which was starting to take shape.

She spread the word of an organized demonstration that she planned with Cho In-won and Kim Goo-Eung and rallied the people from neighboring towns, including Yeongi, Chungju, Cheonan and Jincheon.

The demonstration took place on April 1, 1919 (March 1 in the lunar calendar), at Aunae Marketplace at 9a.m., with approximately 3,000 demonstrators chanting "Long live Korean independence!"

. By 1 p.m., the Japanese military police arrived and fired on the unarmed protesters, killing 19 people, including Yu's parents.

She was arrested.

The Japanese military police offered Yu a lighter sentence in exchange for admission of guilt and her cooperation in finding other protest collaborators.

She refused, and remained silent even after being severely tortured.

After her arrest, Yu was initially detained at Cheonan Japanese Military Police Station and later transferred to Gongju Police Station.

At her trial, she argued that the proceedings were controlled by the Japanese colonial government, the law of the governor-general of Korea, and was overseen by an assigned Japanese judge.

Despite her attempts to obtain a fair trial, she was found guilty of sedition and security law violations and received a five-year sentence at Seodaemun Prison in Seoul.

During her imprisonment, Yu's continued support for the independence movement resulted in her being severely punished and tortured in prison.

On March 1, 1920, Yu prepared a large-scale protest with her fellow inmates to mark the movement's first anniversary.

Yu was imprisoned separately in an isolated cell.

She died on September 28, 1920, from injuries sustained from torture and beatings in prison.

Walter, who dressed Yu for her funeral, later assured the public in 1959 that her body had not been cut into pieces as alleged.

According to records discovered in November 2011, 7,500 of the 45,000 arrested in relation to the protests during that period died at the hands of Japanese authorities.

"Japan will fall", she wrote while in prison:

"Even if my fingernails are torn out, my nose and ears are ripped apart, and my legs and arms are crushed, this physical pain does not compare to the pain of losing my nation. [...] My only remorse is not being able to do more than dedicating my life to my country."

Japanese prison officials initially refused to release Yu's body in an attempt to hide evidence of torture.

Authorities eventually released her body in a Saucony Vacuum Company oil crate due to threats made by Lulu Frey and Jeannette Walter, the principals of Yu's school, who voiced their suspicions of torture to the public.