Independence Activist Choi Jae-hyung Buried Together with Wife 103 Years After Martyrdom

The Burial Site of Patriot Choi Jae-hyung and Remains of Mrs. Choi Elena
Joint Interment at the National Seoul National Cemetery's Patriotic Martyrs' Burial Ground

The spirits of Choi Jae-hyung, known as the "Patriarch of the Independence Movement in Yeonhaeju," and his wife, Choi Elena, will reunite in their homeland 103 years after Choi's martyrdom.

Teacher Choi Jae-hyung and his wife Mrs. Choi Elena restored with AI technology. (Photo by Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs)

On the 1st, the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs announced, "We will bring the soil from Ussuriysk, Russia, where Choi Jae-hyung is presumed to have died, and the remains of his wife, Choi Elena, who was buried in a communal cemetery in Kyrgyzstan for over 70 years, and inter them together in the National Seoul National Cemetery's Patriotic Martyrs' section."

Choi Jae-hyung, who moved to Siberian Yeonhaeju with his parents at the age of nine, became a self-made businessman and used his vast wealth accumulated through his ventures for the independence of his homeland and the benefit of hundreds of thousands of Siberian Korean immigrants. After the Russo-Japanese War, he organized the Donguihoe (同義會), an overseas anti-Japanese organization, and served as its president, leading anti-Japanese volunteer resistance efforts. He also supported the independence movement of An Jung-geun.

He acquired and relaunched the Daedong Gongbo (大東共報), publishing articles that inspired patriotism. He was elected as the finance minister of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea and was revered as the "Great Benefactor of the Siberian Korean Community" for his active independence activities and contributions to the Korean community.

His wife, Choi Elena Petrovna, married Choi Jae-hyung in 1897 and bore eight children. She is known to have cared for An Jung-geun’s family after his martyrdom. After Choi Jae-hyung’s death, she endured a difficult life with their children until her death in 1952, when she was buried in a communal cemetery in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, together with the Choi Jae-hyung Memorial Association, began preparations for the recovery of the remains locally. On the 7th, Choi Elena’s remains are scheduled to be brought into the country via Incheon International Airport. Additionally, soil collected from the hill behind the Choi Jae-hyung Memorial Hall (formerly Choi Jae-hyung’s residence) in Ussuriysk, Russia, where Choi is presumed to have died, will be brought into the country on the 11th. Both will be interred with the highest honors at the National Cemetery.

On the 12th and 13th, a national memorial space will be set up at the Seoul National Cemetery’s Memorial Hall, and on the 14th, the day before Liberation Day, a joint burial ceremony for the couple will be held under the slogan "A Reunion After a Hundred Years, the Dreamed Homeland Republic of Korea."

Notably, the repatriation of Choi Elena’s remains was greatly aided by the public fundraising campaign by the Choi Jae-hyung Memorial Association and sponsorship from LG Uplus, reflecting active private sector participation. Originally, Choi Jae-hyung’s grave was established in 1970 at plot 108 in the Patriotic Martyrs’ section of the National Seoul Cemetery, but it was destroyed due to the so-called "fake family incident," and the site remains vacant to this day.

The government posthumously awarded Choi Jae-hyung the Order of Independence Merit in 1962 and, at the request of his descendants, built a temporary grave at Seoul National Cemetery in 1970. However, after Korea and Russia established diplomatic relations in 1990, when Choi’s family visited the homeland, it was revealed that the person claiming to be a descendant was actually a fake relative seeking survivor’s pension. After it was discovered that the person who requested the temporary grave was a fraud, the temporary grave at plot 108 in the Seoul National Cemetery’s Independence Patriots’ section was destroyed between 2006 and 2009, but the actual descendants were never notified.

The descendants wished to restore the destroyed grave, but since Choi Jae-hyung died in April 1920 at the hands of the Japanese military and his remains have not been found to this day, the National Cemetery Act, which requires remains or a body for burial, prevented the restoration of the grave. In January of this year, the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs submitted a revision to the National Cemetery Act to the National Assembly, allowing the memorial tablets of martyrs without remains and the remains of their spouses to be interred together. This law was approved by the Cabinet on the 18th of last month and has now been enacted.

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