The remains of the late independence fighters Ho Si-han and Governor Lee Gwal return to their homeland... 16th inauguration ceremony

The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs announced on the 13th that it would return to Korea the remains of the late independence fighters Ho Si-han and Governor Lee Gwal, who had been buried in the United States and Uzbekistan, ahead of the 87th Patriots' Day (November 17).

The remains of the two governors, along with the remains of their spouses, will enter the country through Incheon International Airport on the 15th. Minister of Veterans Affairs Kwon Oh-eul will personally welcome him at the airport.

The remains return ceremony will be held at the March 1st Declaration of Independence Monument in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul on the 16th. The two governors will be buried at the Daejeon National Cemetery.

Governor Ho Si-han (born in 1885) was arrested by the Japanese while planning to raise military funds in Korea in May 1919, right after the March 1st Movement. Since then, he has provided support on several occasions, including sympathy money for the Chinese Anti-Japanese War, donations to the liberation army, and military campaign funds.

He died in Los Angeles (LA), USA in 1956. In 2021, he was posthumously awarded the Order of Merit for National Foundation.

Governor Lee Gwal (born in 1898) moved to Manchuria as a child, participated in the Korean community in the Maritime Province in 1919, and worked as a diplomat for the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea in the early 1920s.

During the forced relocation of Koreans to the Maritime Province in October 1937, he was forcibly relocated to Uzbekistan and eventually died there. He was posthumously awarded the National Merit Medal in 2009.

Governor Lee Gwal is the first person to repatriate the remains of an independence fighter from Uzbekistan.

Through the project to repatriate the remains of independence fighters buried overseas, the government has brought the remains of 156 independence fighters from 14 countries, including Governor Park Eun-sik (China), Dr. Seo Jae-pil (United States), and General Hong Beom-do (Kazakhstan), to their home countries. Including this repatriation, 158 remains from 15 countries will be laid to rest in the arms of the motherland.

The Ministry of Veterans Affairs estimates that there are 240 graves of independence fighters buried overseas in 10 countries, including China, the United States, and Kazakhstan, and plans to repatriate them to their home countries after consultation with their families.

Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs Kwon Oh-eul said, “The government will do its best to return the remains of independence fighters who devoted themselves to the independence of the country and who are now resting in a country a thousand miles away to the motherland’s arms.”