Patriot of Independence · March 1st Movement · Presidential Medal (Daetongnyeong-jang) (1962)
| Life | 1864 ~ 1953 |
| Era | 근현대 |
| Clan | 해주 오씨 |
O Se-chang (1864-1953) was born in Seoul, the son of Chinese-language interpreter and reformist thinker O Gyeong-seok, and became involved in the enlightenment movement from an early age. He passed the interpreter's examination in 1879 and, while serving at the Bangmun Bureau in 1885, became a reporter for the Hanseong Jubo, Korea's first modern press organ; he briefly fled to Japan after the assassination of Empress Myeongseong before returning.
In 1919 he was one of the 33 national representatives who signed the Korean Declaration of Independence and proclaimed Korean independence, for which he was sentenced to three years in Seodaemun Prison and released on parole in November 1923. He later became a noted calligrapher, seal engraver, and scholar of art history and epigraphy, compiling the "Geunyeok Seohwajing" (1928), a biographical dictionary of 1,117 painters and calligraphers from the Three Kingdoms period to modern times, still regarded as a classic of Korean art-historical research.
After liberation he was named president of the Maeil Sinbo, renaming it the Seoul Sinmun, and fled to Daegu when the Korean War broke out in 1950, dying there in April 1953.