Independence fighter to be recognized as Korean national 100 years after death

By Jun Ji-hye

South Korea will officially give honorary posthumous Korean nationality to Hwang Ki-hwan who died in New York a century ago after having taken part in Korea's independence movement from overseas against imperial Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule.

Hwang has become well-known to the public as the historical figure “Eugene Choi” played by Lee Byung-hun in the 2018 hit TV drama “Mr. Sunshine.”

According to the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, Friday, the necessary documentation to register Hwang as a Korean national has been recently completed, thus Minister Park Min-shik will grant the nationality to his remains during a repatriation ceremony scheduled to take place at the Daejeon National Cemetery, Monday.

Hwang's remains, currently laid to rest at Mount Olivet Cemetery in New York, will be relocated to the Daejeon cemetery for the ceremony.

Born in Sunchon, South Pyongan Province, now in North Korea, in 1886, Hwang had no official documentation in Korea, as he left the country before relevant laws governing family registration were enacted and died in New York without any descendants.

Hwang moved to the United States in 1904 to study and volunteered to fight during World War I.

After the war, he moved to France in 1919 and supported Korean representatives at the Paris Peace Conference.

Hwang continued take part in Korea's independence movement to release the country from Japan's occupation while in New York and London. He died in New York in April of 1923.