Kim Sang-ok was born on January 5, 1889, in Eui-donggye, Geondeokbang, Hanseong-bu, which is the location of Hyoje-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul in present day.

He established Dongheung Night School in 1909 to help financially struggling youth after the evening school at Shin Gun School within Dongdaemun Church was closed due to financial issues. While running the school, he met fellow independence activists such as Son Jeong-do, Lee Jong-so, and Im Yong-ho, and helped foster national consciousness.

In 1910, he studied mathematics at Kyungsung English School and registered for the English program at the YMCA to broaden his knowledge of Western culture and international affairs.

In 1912, at the age of 28, he founded Yeongdeok Hardware Store, where he later became the manager in 1917. During this time, he simultaneously promoted the movement to encourage the purchase of Korean-made goods and boycotted Japanese goods. In particular, he produced and distributed horsehair hats, which became a necessary item for Koreans when their hair was forcibly cut due to the Japanese government’s short hair decree. The profits earned from selling various items were used to support independence activities, and Yeongdeok Hardware Store became a secret base for independence activists.

On March 1, 1919, when a nationwide Manse protest broke out, he produced and distributed large numbers of Taegukgi (Korean national flags). He also directly participated in the protest together with the employees of the hardware store.

On April 1, 1919, he, along with independence activists Seo Dae-seon, Shin Hwa-soo, Yoon Ik-jung, Jung Seol-gyo, Jeon U-jin, Choi Seok-gi, Lee Hye-su, Park No-young, and Kim Hwa-ryong, formed a secret revolutionary organization called the “Hyuksin Dan” and published a newspaper called “Hyuksin Gongbo” to spread news about the independence movement that was occurring not only within the country but also those of overseas, including China, Russia, the United States, and Europe.

In December 1919, he organized an assassination squad with other independence activists such as Kim Dong-soon, Kim Hyeong-gyu, Myeong Jae-se, Lee Jae-in, Seo Byeong-cheol, Han Hoon, Lee Woon-gi, Kim Tae-won, Jung Seol-gyo, Seo Dae-seon, Shin Hwa-soo, and Choi Seok-gi in order to eliminate major Japanese figures.

However, on April 15, 1919, the “Jeam-ri Massacre” occurred in a church in Jeam-ri, Hwangnam-myeon, Suwon-gun, Gyeonggi Province, where Japanese troops mercilessly killed local residents. This incident became known to the world through a report by Dr. Frank William Schofield, a Canadian missionary and veterinarian who had visited Korea as a professor at Severance Medical School in 1916 but had resigned from his position to encourage independence activists and publicize Japanese atrocities to the world.

In August 1920, upon hearing that a congressional delegation from the United States would visit Korea to investigate the incident, Kim Sang-ok prepared to assassinate Saito Makoto, who was then the Japanese Governor-General, thinking it was a golden opportunity to inform the world about the situation in Korea. However, the plan was exposed to the Japanese authorities and his comrades were arrested. He went into exile in China in December of that year.

In January 1921, he joined the “Uiyeoldan,” an armed resistance organization against Japan organized by Kim Won-bong in which he raised funds for the independence movement while supporting his fellow independence activists’ plan to destroy major Japanese facilities.

On January 12, 1923, Kim Sang-ok successfully carried out his plan to bomb the Jongno Police Station, which had a notorious reputation for brutally torturing numerous independence activists, causing significant damage to the building.

On January 17, 1923, Kim Sang-ok engaged in a shootout with 20 Japanese police officers who had discovered his location, killing the detective chief of the Jongno Police Station and injuring several other Japanese police officers before taking refuge in the homes of family members or fellow independence activists.

On January 22, 1923, when more than 1,000 military police officers dispatched from four police stations in Seoul surrounded his final hiding place, Kim Sang-ok engaged in a three-and-a-half-hour shootout which killed 16 Japanese police officers, shouted “Long live independence,” and chose to take his own life with the last bullet.

On December 1, 1922, before leaving for Shanghai, China, Kim Sang-ok left the following message to the members of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea:

“My life or death depends on this revolt. If it fails let’s meet in the afterlife. I will keep my ideals by taking my own life rather than be held prisoner by the enemy.”

An activist that sought for change, a brave member of an assassination group, and a freedom fighter for the country.

Kim Sang-ok, who resisted the Japanese with force until the very end, never compromising his will as an independence fighter. A true hero!

Now it’s your turn to become Kim Sang-ok of the 21st century and complete the Republic of Korea that he dreamed of!