Independence fighter's son helps neighbors
.jpg?w=728)
Restaurant owner Kim Seong-sik, 82, is a son of Kim Jeong-ro, an independence fighter who participated in the anti-Japanese movement during the Japanese colonial period (1910-45).
By Jhoo Dong-chan
The son of an independence fighter has helped his neighbors in need for several years at the Bangsan Market in Jung-gu, central Seoul.
Restaurant owner Kim Seong-sik has been serving meals to needy neighbors every Wednesday since October 2009 following his father’s wishes. He has also been volunteering at a crossroads in front of the market every morning for more than 10 years to ensure student safety.
“It is a bit tiring to prepare meals for 50 people at a time but it is also very rewarding,” said Kim.
“It was my father’s wish. He wanted me to contribute to the society.”
The 82-year-old Kim’s father, Jeong-ro, was an independence fighter who participated in the anti-Japanese movement across China and Korea under the famous Kim Koo’s leadership during the Japanese colonial period.
Born in Soonchang, North Jeolla Province, in 1914, Kim Jeong-ro first joined the movement participating in the Gwangju Student Independence Activity in 1929. He then joined Kim Koo’s Provisional Government of Korea in Shanghai.
He also established underground resistance forces in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, in 1935. Kim was captured by the Japanese after they were tipped-off by one of his accomplices in 1943 but released upon the liberation of the country in 1945.
Kim was then elected to the second National Assembly but died from illness in 1958 when he was only 43.
Kim’s son, Seong-sik, said he met his father for the first time when he was seven years old.
“My father did not want me to live under his fame, so I haven’t yet applied for a man of merit as an independence patriot for him,” said Kim.
“But I am now old enough that I might join my father soon. It’s time his heroic deeds to be recognized by the government.”