Independence patriot · Japan theater · Japan theater
| Life | 1919 ~ 1997 |
| Era | 근현대 |
| Clan | 진주 강씨 |
Born Gang Si-cheol on March 2, 1919, in Gyeongseong (Seoul) and raised in Gimje and Jeonju, Gang Seok-rin remained in Japan after graduating from Yamaguchi Middle School in 1938 to continue anti-Japanese activities. In February 1939 he recruited fellow Korean students Yu Jae-u, Seong Chang-hwan and Min Byeong-gu to transform Yeouhoe, a friendship society for Korean students, into an underground resistance organization.
Through a secret reading circle he raised national consciousness among Korean students and campaigned against the assimilation policy, forced name changes, the volunteer soldier system, and the banning of the Korean language. When the organization was uncovered by Yamaguchi prefectural authorities in July 1940, he was arrested with nineteen others and imprisoned for a year before his release in 1941. He then went to Shanghai in 1942, continuing his independence activities until witnessing Korea's liberation there in 1945; after returning home in 1946 he remained politically active for decades, including with the Korea Independence Party. He was posthumously awarded the Order of Merit for National Foundation in 1999.