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Person1879 – 1944

Han Yong-un

Buddhist monk and poet, one of the 33 representatives who signed the Declaration of Independence; author of "The Silence of Love"

His pen name was Manhae. Born in Hongseong in Chungcheong, he became a monk at Baekdamsa on Mount Seorak in 1905. In On the Reform of Korean Buddhism (1913) he argued that Buddhism, shut away in the mountains, must reform and go among the people. In 1911, when pro-Japanese monks tried to merge Korean Buddhism into Japan's Soto school, he led the Imje movement that blocked it.

In 1919 he joined the 33 national representatives for the Buddhists, signed the Declaration of Independence and gave the address at the reading at Taehwagwan. During three years in prison he wrote for the Japanese prosecutor a statement setting out the case for Korean independence. In 1926 he published The Silence of Love, poems of longing for a beloved who has gone.

In 1927 he helped found the Singanhoe and headed its Gyeongseong branch, and led the Buddhist youth movement. When he built his house Simujang in Seongbuk-dong, Seoul, he is said to have had it face north so as not to face the Government-General. He refused to the end to adopt a Japanese name or urge students to enlist, and died at Simujang in June 1944. He was posthumously awarded the Order of Merit for National Foundation (Republic of Korea Medal) in 1962.

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4 related events

  1. 1
    1911 – 1945National Movements of the Religious Communitiesleader

    Cheondogyo, Daejonggyo, Buddhists, Catholics, Won Buddhism and Protestants joined the national movement through enlightenment campaigns, armed struggle, campaigns to reform daily life and refusal of Shinto shrine worship.

  2. 2
    1919Declaration of Independence and the Spread of the Protestsparticipant

    The 33 national representatives proclaimed independence at Taehwagwan while students and citizens read the declaration in Tapgol Park and began demonstrating. The protests spread from the cities to the countryside and abroad.

  3. 3
    1926Publication of Han Yong-un’s "The Silence of Love"author

    Han Yong-un, a Buddhist monk and one of the March First representatives, published the poetry collection "The Silence of Love", whose longing for the lost "beloved" carried the will for independence.

  4. 4
    1927 – 1931Singanhoeparticipant

    Uncompromising nationalists and socialists joined to found the Singanhoe, the largest legal national organization of the colonial period.

People who appear alongside

  • Son Byong-hi1861 – 1922

    Third leader of Donghak and founder of Cheondogyo; head of the 33 national representatives of 1919

  • Na Cheol1863 – 1916

    Plotted with O Gi-ho to kill the five ministers who signed the Eulsa Treaty, and in 1909 founded Daejonggyo, a religion honouring Dangun

  • Park Jung-bin1891 – 1943

    Sotaesan. Founded Won Buddhism in 1916 and led land reclamation, savings associations and the New Life Movement

  • Bang Jeong-hwan1899 – 1931

    Children’s writer and youth activist who led the Cheondogyo Youth Association and Saekdonghoe and created Children’s Day and the magazine "Eorini"

  • Choe Nam-seon1890 – 1957

    Wrote the 1919 Declaration of Independence; later collaborated with the Japanese authorities (listed in the Dictionary of Pro-Japanese Collaborators)

  • Yi Seung-hun1864 – 1930

    Sinminhoe member who founded the Osan School in Jeongju, was jailed in the Case of the 105 and was a Christian representative in the March First Movement

  • Gojong1852 – 1919

    Twenty-sixth king of Joseon and first emperor of the Korean Empire

  • Yi Sang-jae1850 – 1927

    Independence Club veteran who led the national university campaign and was first president of the Singanhoe

Themes this person appears in

  • Republican China and Imperial Japan1912 – 1949

    The age when the Republic of China, born of the 1911 Revolution, passed through warlord division, the May Fourth Movement, the United Front and the Northern Expedition, fought Japan’s invasion and split in civil war — as Japan moved from Taishō democracy through the Manchurian Incident and military coups to the war in China and the Co-Prosperity Sphere, and colonized Korea resisted through the March First Movement and armed struggle

  • Seoul18 BC – 1988

    From Hanseong Baekje to the June Democratic Struggle — the Han River land every kingdom fought for, and Joseon’s capital for five centuries