Freedom fighter acquitted posthumously

Choi Neung-jin

By Kim Hyo-jin

A former independence fighter executed in 1951 for allegedly collaborating with communists during the 1950-53 Korean War has been posthumously acquitted after his relatives filed an appeal against his conviction.

Choi Neung-jin, 53, was regarded as a political rival to then-President Syngman Rhee, and was executed after a court found him guilty of breaking the National Security Law.

Decades later, Choi’s family filed a petition for an appeal. Seoul Central District Court overturned the 64 year old conviction on Sept. 1, citing a lack of evidence.

Born in South Pyeongan Province in 1899, Choi joined the independence movement during the 1910-1945 Japanese colonial rule of the Korean peninsula. He fought against the Japanese army as a member of a resistance group named the Young Korean Academy or “Heung Sa Dan,” founded by Ahn Chang-ho.

After Korea’s liberation, he served as a director of the criminal investigation bureau of the police, but soon lost his job for demanding the expulsion of Japanese collaborators from the police force.

Choi protested against the plan to unilaterally establish a government in South Korea alongside Kim Gu, who led Korea’s government in exile during Japanese rule.

While leading the protest, he was labeled as a political opponent to Syngman Rhee, who actively worked to establish the government of the Republic of Korea.

When he announced in 1948 that he would be a candidate against Rhee in Dongdaemun district, he was not allowed to run.

Soon after the establishment of the government in 1948, he was jailed on charges of treason.

He was released from prison when the North Korean army took control of Seoul during the Korean War in 1950. After this, he launched a campaign for a ceasefire.

However, after the South Korean army regained control of Seoul, he was sentenced to death for “collaborating with communists.”

In 2009, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a special committee established in 2005 to reinvestigate past security-related cases, recommended his case be reviewed, saying Choi’s execution was the result of false information.

The district court said that his campaign during the Korean War appears to have proceeded peacefully.

The judge made a rare comment while delivering the verdict, saying, “We are sorry to Choi who lost his life due to the unjust exercise of power.”

Choi Man-lib, 81, the late activist’s third son, said “I’m extremely happy that his honor was finally recovered after years of bitter grief.”