Song Changjoo, Director of Lee Jun Martyrs Memorial Hall, Named Winner of the 24th Yu Gwan-sun Award

Managed the Lee Jun Memorial Hall for 30 Years, Promoting the Spirit of Independence Abroad
20 Students, Including Kim Songhyun from Songak High School, Selected for the Yu Gwansun Torch Award

Yoo Gwansun Award Recipient Changju Song, Director of Junyeol Lee Memorial Hall

Song Changjoo, the director of the Lee Jun Memorial Hall, has been selected as the final recipient of the Yu Gwansun Award and will receive a prize of 50 million KRW.

On the afternoon of the 4th, Chungnam Province held the Yu Gwansun Award Committee meeting in the main conference room of the provincial government office and announced that Director Song was selected as the final recipient of the 24th Yu Gwansun Award.

For the Yu Gwansun Torch Award, 20 students were selected, including Kim Songhyun from Songak High School in Dangjin and Hong Yunjin from Ewha Girls' High School.

The Yu Gwansun Award was established by Chungnam Province in 2001 to honor the patriotic spirit of Yu Gwansun and to widely recognize the contributions of women or women's organizations who have contributed to the nation and society.

The Yu Gwansun Torch Award was established in 2002 to commemorate the patriotic spirit of Yu Gwansun, who died for her country at the age of 18, and to instill proper values in young people. It is awarded to first-year female high school students nationwide and 16-year-old out-of-school female youths.

This year, to further enhance the national prestige and status of the Yu Gwansun Award, the committee expanded eligibility to include overseas Koreans and increased the prize from 30 million KRW to 50 million KRW. The Yu Gwansun Torch Award prize was also raised from 2 million KRW to 3 million KRW.

Director Song, the recipient of the Yu Gwansun Award, prevented the demolition of the De Jong Hotel in The Hague, Netherlands, where Lee Jun died in 1907, by petitioning and appealing. He purchased the site and, with support from the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs and the Federation of Korean Industries, collected relics and materials related to Lee Jun and the delegation, opening the Lee Jun Memorial Hall in August 1995.

For 30 years, Director Song has managed the Lee Jun Memorial Hall, which is the only independence movement memorial hall in Europe, helping to promote Korea’s spirit of independence abroad. Every November, he leads the "Never Forget, Never Again" campaign to remember the Eulsa Treaty.

He also established the Hwaran Korean School, the first Korean language school in the Netherlands, to teach Hangeul and Korean history to overseas Koreans and local residents.

The award ceremony will be held on April 1 at COEX in Seoul. The Yu Gwansun Award recipient will receive a trophy and prize money, while the Yu Gwansun Torch Award recipients will receive a certificate and prize money.

Governor Kim Taeheum said, "Given the name and purpose of the award, as well as the achievements of past recipients, the Yu Gwansun Award should be regarded as the highest honor for women in Korea. We will continue our efforts to further raise the status and prestige of the Yu Gwansun Award, beyond simply increasing the prize money and expanding publicity."

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