Patriot / Student Movement / Patriotic Medal (1990)
| Life | 1914 ~ 2001 |
| Era | 근현대 |
| Clan | 밀양 박씨 |
Park Jun-chae (1914-2001) was the central figure in the "Naju Station Incident" of 30 October 1929, when, as a second-year student at Gwangju High School, he confronted Japanese middle-school students who were harassing Korean schoolgirls Yi Gwang-chun and Park Gi-ok, sparking a brawl that ignited the nationwide Gwangju Student Independence Movement.
Japanese police investigated the incident one-sidedly, interrogating and beating Park while letting the Japanese students off, and he was expelled from Gwangju High School and imprisoned for three months. He later transferred to and graduated from Yangjeong High School and went on to graduate from Waseda University.
After liberation he worked as a bank employee before serving as a professor and dean of the Chosun University College of Law from 1960 to 1988, and as a director of the Gwangju Student Independence Movement Alumni Association promoting the movement's legacy until his death on 7 March 2001 at the age of 87.