Four Female Independence Activists Among "March Independence Activists"

Kwon Aera·Shim Youngsik·Shin Gwanbin·Lim Myeongae

Women independence activists Kwon Ae-ra, Shim Young-sik, Shin Gwan-bin, and Lim Myeong-ae have been selected as the "Independence Activists of March."

According to the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs on the 28th, Kwon Ae-ra (1897?1973), a female independence activist who endured imprisonment in places such as Seodaemun Prison alongside martyr Yu Gwan-sun, graduated from Ewha Hakdang and worked as a kindergarten teacher at Hosudon Girls' School. In March 1919, she took out the Declaration of Independence hidden in the chapel and, together with Shim Young-sik, Shin Gwan-bin, and others, distributed it throughout Kaesong city and prepared a March 1st Independence Movement demonstration with the students of Hosudon Girls' School. Two days later, Hosudon Girls' School students took to the streets, marking the first independence demonstration in Kaesong.

Female independence activist Kwon Aera (1897~1973)

Arrested on charges of distributing the Declaration of Independence, she was sentenced to six months in prison by the Gyeongseong District Court in May of that year. Although she appealed, the sentence was confirmed in July, and she served her prison term. The following July, as a member of the domestic organization of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, she was detained and investigated by Jongno Police Station on charges of raising independence funds. That autumn, she went to Shanghai and was active in the Shanghai Patriotic Women's Association and the Shanghai branch of the Korean Communist Party. In January 1922, she participated as a representative of the Shanghai Patriotic Women's Association at the Far Eastern Peoples' Conference held in Moscow. In 1940, while working with her son Kim Bong-nyeon to recruit independence army forces based at the Yeongshin Farm in Jilin Province, China, she was arrested by the Japanese Kwantung Army in March 1943 and sentenced to 12 years in prison by the Manchukuo High Court for violating the Peace Preservation Law. She served her sentence at Jilin Prison and was released in 1945 upon Korea's liberation.

Born in Kaesong, Shim Young-sik (1896?1983) became visually impaired due to a fever but studied at Hosudon Girls' School and Pyongyang Girls' High School. In 1919, she worked as a Christian evangelist. On March 1, 1919, she distributed the Declaration of Independence in Kaesong city with Kwon Ae-ra, Shin Gwan-bin, and others, and participated in the March 4 independence demonstration in Kaesong. She was arrested and sentenced to 10 months in prison by the Gyeongseong District Court in May 1919 and imprisoned in Seodaemun Prison. While incarcerated, she was beaten by a guard, causing her eardrum to rupture, resulting in a lifelong complication of pus discharge from one ear.

On March 1, 1920, marking the first anniversary of the March 1st Movement, she was arrested again while preparing a demonstration with students from Miriheum Girls' School in Kaesong and sentenced to one year in prison but was released after six months.

Shin Gwan-bin (1886??), born in Hwanghae Province, lived in the dormitory of Hosudon Girls' School and worked as a Christian evangelist. On March 1, 1919, she distributed the Declaration of Independence in Kaesong city with Kwon Ae-ra, Shim Young-sik, and others. The next day, she was arrested at a church and sentenced to one year in prison by the Gyeongseong District Court the following month, being imprisoned in Seodaemun Prison. After her release in April 1920, she recalled in an interview with the press that she had been treated "in a manner so disgraceful that no human should endure" during her imprisonment.

In the interview, she emphasized, "Our task is to establish many schools, educate many young men and women, and send them abroad to study to cultivate talented individuals."

Lim Myeong-ae (1886?1938), born in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, was the wife of Yeom Se-ho, the commander of the Korean Salvation Army. On March 10, 1919, she led about 100 students at Gyoha Public Elementary School in Paju County, shouting independence slogans and leading a demonstration. This was recorded as the first independence demonstration in Paju. On March 25, she wrote and distributed a proclamation at her home with her husband and students, calling for everyone to gather at Dunggeulbong on March 28 to hold a demonstration.

Two days before the planned event, on March 26, she went with about 700 people, including Yeom Gyu-ho, to the Waseok Township Office to pressure the township clerks to take a day off and then proceeded to the police substation. The Japanese military police fired at the demonstrators, killing Choi Hong-ju on the spot, and the crowd dispersed. Lim Myeong-ae was arrested at the scene and sentenced to one year and six months in prison by the Gyeongseong District Court in June 1919, serving her sentence in Seodaemun Prison.

Kwon Ae-ra, Shim Young-sik, Shin Gwan-bin, and Lim Myeong-ae were female independence heroes who actively participated in the March 1st Movement, steadfastly devoted to the independence of their homeland despite Japanese oppression. They were also comrades of martyr Yu Gwan-sun in Cell No. 8 of the women's ward in Seodaemun Prison. To honor their contributions, the government posthumously awarded Kwon Ae-ra the Order of Merit for National Foundation, Patriotic Medal in 1990; Shim Young-sik and Shin Gwan-bin the Order of Merit for National Foundation, Patriotic Medal in 1990 and 2011 respectively; and Lim Myeong-ae the Order of Merit for National Foundation, Patriotic Medal in 1990.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.