Tomb of General Kim Jwa-jin

About this place

The tomb of General Kim Jwa-jin is the burial place of independence activist Baekya Kim Jwa-jin (1889-1930). Born into a wealthy farming family in Hongseong, Kim Jwa-jin burned his family's slave documents and distributed farmland at age 15 due to his strong progressive ideas. In 1905 he established Homyeong School to fight illiteracy, and in 1913 was imprisoned for three years for fundraising military funds. In 1917 he went to Manchuria, joined the Daehan Gwangbok Corps (Korean Independence Army), became commander of the North Route Military Headquarters, and trained independence fighters, using this as a basis to fight Japan at the Battle of Cheongsanri, achieving the greatest victory in independence movement history. The general, who devoted himself to national liberation, was assassinated in 1930 by communist Park Sang-sil. He was buried in Manchurian soil immediately after assassination, but his wife Oh Suk-geun secretly moved his remains in 1940 to Hoeri, Seobu-myeon, Hongseong-gun. In 1957, after his wife's death, his son Kim Du-han moved the remains to the current location for a joint burial. The tomb area features a stone fence behind, a stone encircling the base of the mound, a table stone and lantern stone in front of the mound, a tombstone to the side, and a pair of horse stone statues on both sides. It was designated as a Chungcheongnam-do monument in 1989.