Independence activist: left officer in the Hongju uprising and leader in founding the Chungnam branch of the Korea Restoration Society; posthumously awarded the Patriotic Medal
| Life | 1873 ~ 1957 |
| Era | 대한제국~일제강점기 |
| Clan | 칠원 윤씨 |
Yun Byeong-il (1873-1957) was a patriot active from the late Korean Empire through the colonial period; his seat was Chilwon, courtesy name Jangil (章日), pen name Hwagang (華岡). A 37th-generation Chilwon Yun descended from Yun Hwan, he was a son of Yun So-gwon, posthumously a senior official, and a lady of the Gimhae Kim. He was born on 12 December 1873 at Hwayang-ri, Mok-myeon, Cheongyang, South Chungcheong.
According to the memorial text, his first anti-Japanese act was joining the 1904 Jeongsan uprising against a land survey. After the 1905 forced treaty, when the former vice minister Min Jong-sik raised a righteous army, he joined it as left officer; this was the Hongju uprising of April 1906, in which thousands from Jeongsan, Cheongyang, Boryeong and Hongsan took Hongju fortress before being driven back by Japanese forces. He gathered some 400 volunteers at Cheongyang to try again.
In 1916 he was arrested by Japanese police while planning an uprising with comrades at Yeonsan, Nonsan, and spent a year in exile on Seokmo Island, Ganghwa; he was released in 1917. He is said to have then led the founding of the Chungnam branch of the Korea Restoration Society. He died on 23 August 1957 and on Liberation Day 1990 the government awarded him the Patriotic Medal of the Order of Merit for National Foundation. He is interred in the independence-merit section of the Daejeon National Cemetery, and a memorial stele was raised at the entrance of his home village in 1991.
The April 1906 Hongju uprising was a major episode of the Chungcheong righteous armies led by Min Jong-sik, and the memorial text says Yun Byeong-il fought under him as left officer. Hongju fortress was taken for a time but lost again to Japanese forces, and Yun reportedly regathered some 400 volunteers at Cheongyang. The leader of the same event, Min Jong-sik, belonged to the Yeoheung Min clan.
After his 1916 plan for an uprising at Yeonsan was discovered, he spent a year in exile on Seokmo Island, and he is said to have then led the founding of the Chungnam branch of the Korea Restoration Society. The Patriotic Medal was awarded posthumously on Liberation Day 1990. With Yun Byeong-gu (Independence Medal), also from Cheongyang, he shows the Chilwon Yun taking part in the anti-Japanese movement in Chungnam.
He is said to be interred in the independence-merit section of the Daejeon National Cemetery; his memorial stele is at the entrance of Hwayang-ri, Mok-myeon, Cheongyang.