Independence fighter's descendants benefit from KB's housing renovation project

Descendants of Tak Young-eui, an independence fighter during the 1910-45 Japanese colonial period, pose with other participants during a ceremony to mark the renovation of their house in Jeongseon County in Gangwon Province, in this photo released by KB Kookmin Bank, Monday. The renovation is part of a project of the bank aimed at helping families descended from independence movement figures. Courtesy of KB Kookmin Bank

By Yi Whan-woo

Despite their ancestors' sacrifice and dedication to the country, some descendants of Korean patriots live in poverty. Descendants of Tak Young-eui, the late independence fighter during the 1910-45 Japanese colonial period, were no exception.

Their house in a rural town in Jeongseon County in Gangwon Province was old. Its roof and drain pipes as well as the interior needed repairing, something which the family couldn't afford.

KB Kookmin Bank said Monday that it renovated the house belonging to a daughter-in-law and a grandson of Tak, in its project aimed at supporting families of patriots, on the occasion of Liberation Day, Aug. 15 ― the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered to the Allies in 1945.

“We're grateful and thankful for the renovation,” one of Tak's family members was quoted as saying by the bank, after a ceremony to mark the completion of the renovation. “We find the renovated house as a present from our ancestor, whom we think is watching us from heaven living in a clean and improved condition.”

Tak was conscripted into the Japanese military in 1944 and was assigned to a unit in the Chinese city of Nanjing.

He deserted the military and in 1945, joined the security guard unit of the Korean Provisional Government that operated in China as a government-in-exile.

He later served as a security guard for the central command of the Liberation Army launched by the Korean Provisional Government in an all-out war against Japan.

Tak died at the age of 87 in February 2009. He was buried in Daejeon National Cemetery. He was survived by his wife and six children.

KB Kookmin Bank has been running a project to honor Korea's independence movement.

It restored images and voices of seven female freedom fighters who were imprisoned during the colonial era on the occasion of Independence Movement Day in 2019. The day marks a protest movement by Korean people and students who called for independence from Japan on March 1, 1919.

On the anniversary of Independence Movement Day in 2020, the bank held a commemorative drawing exhibition for 11 other patriots.