Yun Bong-gil
Korean Patriotic Organization member who bombed Japanese commanders in Hongkou Park, Shanghai; executed at Kanazawa
Born in Yesan, South Chungcheong, he ran night schools in his village from his late teens, wrote a Farmer's Reader for them and founded the Woljinhoe to revive the countryside. In 1930 he left a note — "Once a man leaves home, he does not return alive until his aim is achieved" — and went abroad, reaching Shanghai by way of Qingdao.
Earning a living selling vegetables, he sought out Kim Gu and joined the Korean Patriotic Organization. On 29 April 1932, at a ceremony in Hongkou Park marking the Emperor's birthday and Japan's victory in the Shanghai Incident, he threw a bomb disguised as a water flask, killing General Shirakawa Yoshinori and badly wounding several senior officials. The attack moved the Chinese Nationalist government to back the Provisional Government in earnest.
Seized on the spot and taken to Japan, he was shot at Kanazawa on 19 December 1932. His remains were brought home in 1946 and buried in Hyochang Park, Seoul. He was posthumously awarded the Republic of Korea Medal in 1962.