State Councillor and Secretary-General of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea; pen name Dongam; New People's Association activist
| Life | 1881 ~ 1945 |
| Era | 일제강점기 |
| Clan | 연안 차씨 |
Cha Ri-seok (1881-1945) was an independence activist who worked for many years in the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, of the Yeonan Cha clan, with the pen name Dongam. A native of Seoncheon, North Pyeongan, he was the third son of four sons and two daughters of Cha Si-heon and Seo Si-eun. He used the alias Seo Ip-hwan to avoid Japanese surveillance.
He studied the classics as a child, entered Soongsil School in Pyongyang in 1900 and graduated in its first class in 1904. In 1908 he taught at Daesung School, founded by Ahn Chang-ho, and served as a council member of the Pyongyang branch of the New People's Association led by Ahn Chang-ho and Yang Gi-tak. Imprisoned in the 1911 '105-Person Incident' and sentenced to eight years, he served three; in 1919, after the March 1st Movement, he went into exile in Shanghai and worked as a leader of the independence party.
He was editor-in-chief of the Provisional Government's Independence Newspaper in 1921, State Councillor in 1932, elected Secretary-General in November 1935, and re-elected State Councillor and Secretary-General in 1940 and 1944. He learned of liberation in Chongqing in August 1945, but collapsed from overwork in preparing for the return and died on 9 September, just before going home. He received the Independence Medal in 1962 and was named Independence Activist of the Month in September 1995.
The New People's Association was a secret society led by Ahn Chang-ho and Yang Gi-tak that sought to build the base for independence through education and industry. In 1911 Japan used an alleged plot to assassinate Governor-General Terauchi as a pretext to suppress it, and Cha Ri-seok was sentenced to eight years.
As the Provisional Government moved from Shanghai to Hangzhou and Chongqing, he handled administration as Secretary-General. He is known as the one who kept the documents and daily affairs in order so that work centered on Kim Gu could continue, including the period of relocation after Japan's intensified pursuit following the 1932 Hongkou Park incident.
On hearing of liberation in 1945 he threw himself into preparations for return, collapsed and died on 9 September. He is said to have lamented on his sickbed that liberation had come and yet he must die without returning home.
The location of his grave was not confirmed here.
He is recorded as having a first wife, Gang Ri-seong, and two daughters, Cha Yeong-ae and Cha Yeong-hui. Gang Ri-seong is known to have run a restaurant in Shanghai and provided a meeting place for secret gatherings of figures such as Yun Bong-gil and Yi Bong-chang.