Patriot of Independence · Enlightenment Movement · Presidential Medal (Daetongnyeong-jang) (1962)
| Life | 1850 ~ 1927 |
| Era | 근현대 |
| Clan | 한산 이씨 |
Yi Sang-jae, penname Wollam, was born in Seocheon, South Chungcheong Province. After failing the state examinations, he served as a secretary to Bak Jeong-yang and became exposed to reformist thought, later gaining diplomatic experience as a secretary at the Korean legation in Washington. He became a central figure of the Independence Club alongside Seo Jae-pil and Yun Chi-ho, chairing the mass public assemblies known as the People's Joint Association that drove Korea's civil-rights enlightenment movement.
Taking office as general secretary of the Seoul YMCA in 1913, he engaged so warmly with young members that he was nicknamed the "eternal youth," and secured the Korean YMCA's admission into its international federation. In 1927 he was elected founding chairman of the Singanhoe, a broad coalition of nationalists across the ideological spectrum. He died of illness in a rented room in Seoul in March of that year, and roughly 100,000 people attended his public funeral. He was posthumously awarded the Order of Merit for National Foundation, Grand Cordon, in 1962.