Kim Won-geun (1886–1965) rose from a peddler in Cheongju to a wealthy merchant in rice, mining, and trade. Under the pen name Cheongam, he funded and founded several schools, including Daeseong Elementary School, Cheongju Commercial High School, Daeseong Girls' Middle School, and Cheongju Girls' Commercial High School, laying the groundwork for what later became Cheongju University. In 1942 he was appointed a councillor of the Governor-General's Central Advisory Council and also served as a director of the National Total Power Korea Federation and joined the Korea Wartime Patriotic Corps, actions for which he is listed as a pro-Japanese collaborator by the government and the Dictionary of Pro-Japanese Biography.