김규식 金奎植

Independence patriot · Provisional Government · Order of Merit for National Foundation, Republic of Korea Medal (Daehanmingukjang, 1989)

Life & career

Known by the pen name Usa, he was sent as a delegate to the Paris Peace Conference and later served as vice-president of the Provisional Government, becoming one of the leading figures of Korea's diplomatic independence movement.

Gim Gyu-sik (1881–1950), from Dongnae, was orphaned young and raised in an orphanage founded by the missionary Horace Underwood. After studying at Roanoke College and Princeton University in the United States, he returned to Korea as an educator. In 1919 he was sent to the Paris Peace Conference as a delegate of the New Korea Youth Party, establishing a Korean commission in Paris to publicize Japan's aggression and Korea's claim to independence. He went on to serve the Provisional Government as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Education, and chairman of its Commission for Europe and America, and as vice-president from 1944 to 1947. After liberation he led the Left-Right Coalition movement with Yeo Un-hyeong in 1946 and the North-South negotiations with Kim Gu and Jo So-ang in 1948. His wife, Kim Soon-ae, was also an independence activist. He was abducted to North Korea during the Korean War and died there on December 10, 1950.