Independence activist in the Jinan March First movement, member of the Constituent National Assembly for Jinan and investigator for the Special Committee on anti-national activities
| Life | 1889 ~ 1950 |
| Era | 일제강점기 |
| Clan | 함양 오씨 |
O Gi-yeol (吳基烈, 1889-1950) was an independence activist and politician of the Hamyang O clan. He was born in Jinan, North Jeolla, on 9 March 1889, studied at a classical-Chinese private school and is said to have completed Yeongsan private school in Maryeong. The Maryeong area of Jinan is also given as the birthplace of O Bi, who died at Jinju in the Imjin War, so it appears to be one of the places where the Hamyang O clan long lived.
On 12 April 1919, market day in Maryeong, Jinan, he led a March First demonstration with Jeon Yeong-sang and Kim Gu-yeong and was tried under the Public Peace Law. On 21 April the Jeonju branch of the Gwangju court sentenced him to eighteen months; he appealed and the Daegu appeals court again sentenced him to eighteen months, which he served. He later served as general secretary of Jeonbuk-gun and was imprisoned for organizing the Korean Independence Youth Volunteer Corps. After liberation he convened a Maryeong residents' assembly, organized a public-order committee, and was a negotiating member of the preparatory committee for a unified Seoul party.
In the election of 10 May 1948 he was elected to the Constituent National Assembly for Jinan, North Jeolla, and served in the Assembly as an investigator of the Special Committee for the Investigation of Anti-National Activities. In the early Korean War he is said to have been imprisoned by the Korean People's Army, which occupied North Jeolla, in Jeonju Prison and killed on 28 September 1950. He received a presidential citation in 1977 and the Order of Merit for National Foundation, Patriotic Medal, in 1990. His role on the Special Committee in the Constituent Assembly is often read together with his imprisonment under Japanese rule. The specific cases he investigated on the committee could not be confirmed here.
The 12 April 1919 demonstration on Maryeong market day was tried under the Public Peace Law, and both the Jeonju branch court and the Daegu appeals court sentenced him to eighteen months.
Elected to the Constituent National Assembly in 1948, he worked as an investigator of the Special Committee on anti-national activities. He is said to have been killed at Jeonju Prison early in the Korean War, and was posthumously awarded the Patriotic Medal in 1990.
The location of his tomb could not be confirmed here.