President visits Korean independence activist memorial in Mongolia

President Lee Jae Myung looks at a bust of Korean independence activist and physician Lee Tae-jun at his memorial in Ulaanbaatar, Friday, during his three-day state visit to Mongolia. Yonhap

Ulaanbaatar — President Lee Jae Myung visited a memorial dedicated to Lee Tae-jun (1883-1921), a Korean independence activist who lived in Mongolia, Friday, on the 105th anniversary of his death.

The president paid tribute to the martyr, a physician who devoted himself to the movement for independence from Japan and is often dubbed as the "Schweitzer of Mongolia," during his three-day state visit to Mongolia through Saturday.

It was the first visit to the memorial by a Korean president since August 2011 and came a day after the leaders of the two counties signed a memorandum of understanding to preserve the site at their bilateral summit.

The president laid flowers at Lee Tae-jun's cenotaph in Ulaanbaatar and observed a moment of silence.

The wreath bore a ribbon reading, "105th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of Lee Tae-jun — President Lee Jae Myung of the Republic of Korea."

Lee Tae-jun established a clinic in Mongolia during 1910-45 Japan's colonial rule, introducing modern medicine while supporting Korea's independence movement.

Touring the memorial's exhibition hall, the president examined historical photographs and asked questions about the independence fighter's background.

He listened to explanations about Lee Tae-jun's path to becoming a physician and viewed a graduation photograph from Severance Union Medical College — now part of Yonsei University's Severance Hospital — and learned about his work translating medical texts by Oliver Avison into Korean.

A Canadian physician and medical missionary, Avison devoted more than 40 years to advancing modern health care and medical education in Korea, including helping found Severance Union Medical College.

The president showed particular interest upon learning that Lee Tae-jun deeply admired independence leader Ahn Chang-ho, better known by his pen name Dosan, and was the cousin-in-law of another independence leader, Kim Kyu-sik.

He later spent several moments closely examining a copy of the Dongnip Sinmun, Korea's first modern newspaper, which reported that Lee Tae-jun had donated 10 silver won to the Korean Provisional Government to support the independence movement.

After touring the exhibition, the president wrote in the guestbook: "We will carry forward the noble spirit of Lee Tae-jun into the golden era of Korea-Mongolia relations."

He then visited the nearby Zaisan Memorial, which is believed to be near the site where Lee Tae-jun's body was buried.

While there, he asked about the progress of Mongolia's plan to build a second administrative capital and showed keen interest on hearing it is being modeled on Korea's administrative city of Sejong.

Accompanying the president were Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Hyun and Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs Kwon Oh-eul.

The Mongolian delegation included Minister of Foreign Affairs Batmunkh Battsetseg, Minister of Environment and Climate Change of Mongolia Odontuya Saldan and Mongolian Ambassador to Korea Sukhee Sukhbold .