Politics·Culture (Pro-Japanese collaborator)
| Life | 1902 ~ 1957 |
| Era | 근현대 |
| Clan | 전주 이씨 |
Yi Myo-muk (1902-1957), from Junghwa County, South Pyongan Province, graduated from Yonhi College's liberal arts program in 1922, then studied in the United States, earning a degree from Mount Union College (1925) and a PhD in philosophy from Boston University (1931), and taught history at Syracuse University.
Arrested in the late 1930s in the Suyang Dongwuhoe case, he was released after submitting a statement of conversion and, as a Yonhi College professor and dean, went on to serve in the National Spiritual Mobilization League and National Total Mobilization League and as a founding member of Yi Gwang-su's Hwangdo Society, cooperating with Japan's wartime mobilization. After liberation he served as interpreter and secretary to U.S. military governor Lt. Gen. John Hodge, helped found the Korean Democratic Party, was founding president of the Korea Basketball Association (1945-1952), and served as ambassador to Britain and concurrently to Scandinavia (1951-1957), dying while still in that post.