Pyongyang educator and businessman implicated in the 105-Man Incident, Vice Speaker of the Constituent Assembly, whose later pro-Japanese activity is criticized
| Life | 1884 ~ 1951 |
| Era | 근현대 |
| Clan | 전주 김씨 |
Kim Dong-won (金東元, 1884-1951) was born in Pyongyang on 1 February 1884, a patriotic-enlightenment activist, educator, businessman and politician whose clan seat was Jeonju. He was the eldest son of the wealthy Pyongyang merchant Kim Dae-yun and the half-brother of the novelist Kim Dong-in. He studied classical Chinese as a boy, entered the Japanese department of the Pyongyang Foreign Language School in 1900 and graduated in 1903, worked as assistant instructor, then studied in Japan from 1905 and entered Meiji University's law division in 1906 but dropped out the following year. In Japan he was active in the Taeguk Society and Daehan Heunghakhoe, and after returning he taught Japanese at Sungdeok and Daesung schools in Pyongyang.
In 1911 he was arrested in the 105-Man Incident fabricated by the Government-General and sentenced in 1912 to six years at the Gyeongseong District Court, but on appeal he was acquitted by the Gyeongseong Court of Appeals in 1913. He then ran a business selling firewood, charcoal, timber and textiles in Pyongyang, and in the 1920s joined the Korean Products Promotion movement with Cho Man-sik and others, took part in founding the Pyongyang YMCA and established the Daedong Law Institute. He was active in the Dongu Club and Suyang Dongu-hoe of the Heungsadan current, and served as a director of several schools and of Severance Medical College. In 1937 he was arrested in the Suyang Dongu-hoe Incident and held at Seodaemun Prison until released on bail in 1939.
After that incident, Wikipedia and Namuwiki say he turned toward cooperation with the Japanese. Records say he took part in aircraft donation drives and student-soldier recruitment and served as head of the Pyongyang Chamber of Commerce, and he was included in the 2008 list of prospective entries for the Dictionary of Pro-Japanese Collaborators compiled by the Institute for Research in Collaborationist Activities, under the economy and local-notable categories. After liberation he organized the South Pyeongan branch of the Committee for the Preparation of Korean Independence in Pyongyang and then moved south, joining the Korea Democratic Party. In the May 1948 election he won a seat in Yongsan, Seoul, became Vice Speaker on 31 May and served until May 1950. He was abducted to the North during the Korean War and is said to have died there in 1951; sources differ between March and October.
Kim Dong-won took part in nationalist activity of the Heungsadan current and the Korean Products Promotion movement, but he is judged a collaborator for his conduct after the Suyang Dongu-hoe Incident of 1937. Whether he joined the Sinminhoe is described differently by source, so this page records only his implication in the 105-Man Incident.
Some sources say he is currently listed in the Dictionary of Pro-Japanese Collaborators while others only say he was on the list of prospective entries, so please check the dictionary itself for the exact status.
Said to lie in the Cemetery for Patriots Who Remained in the North.
His half-brother was the novelist Kim Dong-in. See also the Jeonju Kim clan page.