Independence Fighter Park Shi-chang Honored

By Jung Sung-ki

Staff Reporter

The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs has designated Park Shi-chang (1903-1986) as the independence fighter of the month in consultation with the Korea Liberation Association and the Independence Hall of Korea.

Born in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, in November 1903, Park went to China and devoted himself to the independence movement of Korea with his father Park Eun-shik until his father's death in November 1925.

He left National Central University in Nanjing in 1925 to join the army in Nanjing after graduating from Huangpu (Whangpo) Military Academy. He also served for eight years in the Popular Revolutionary Army.

When the Shanghai incident, the short war between Japan and China, took place in 1932, he joined the Chinese Army to fight against the Japanese. He helped to recruit cadets of Kim Gu Military Academy in China. He studied military science at the most prestigious military school in China.

Park was named as a high ranking officer of the Liberation Army in August 1943 and in October 1944 served as an advisor to the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea for two months.

Being appointed as head of the Shanghai battalion of the Korean Liberation Army in August 1945, he committed himself to safeguarding the lives and property of Korean people living in Shanghai and adjacent areas and helping Korean-born soldiers return to their mother country.

He also returned to Korea in July 1946 and joined the army to participate in the 1950-53 Korean War. He retired as a major general in June 1959 and was appointed as the fifth chairman of the Korea Liberation Association in 1976.

He received a government medal in 1963.