박열 朴烈
Anarchist independence activist who fought against Japanese imperialism
| Life | 1902 ~ 1974 |
| Era | 근현대 |
| Clan | 함양 박씨 |
Life & career
Park Yeol's original name was Park Jun-sik (朴準植), and he was from Mungyeong, North Gyeongsang Province. He went to Japan and devoted himself to the anarchist movement, and in 1923 organized the secret society Bulryeongsa (不逞社).
That same year, in the so-called high-treason incident of allegedly plotting a bombing aimed at the wedding of the Japanese crown prince (Hirohito), he was arrested together with his Japanese wife Kaneko Fumiko. Sentenced to death and then commuted to life imprisonment, he served more than 22 years in prison before being released in 1945 with Japan's defeat.
After liberation he founded the Korean Residents' Union in Japan (Mindan) and served as its first head, returning to Korea in 1949. He was abducted to the North during the Korean War. The government posthumously awarded him the Order of Merit for National Foundation, Presidential Medal, in 1990, and his wife Kaneko Fumiko was also honored with a decoration in 2018.