Ryu Tongnyŏl

Ryu Tongnyŏl
류동열
A photo commemorating the return of the Provisional Government of Korea on December 3, 1945. Third from the right on the second row.
President of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea
Personal details
Born	(1879-03-26)March 26, 1879 Pakchon County, North Pyongan Province, Joseon
Died	October 18, 1950(1950-10-18) (aged 71) North Korea, North Pyongan Province, Huichon, North Korea.
Nationality	Korean
Political party	Korea Independence Party

Ryu Tongnyŏl (Korean: 류동열; Hanja: 柳東說, March 26, 1879 – October 18, 1950) was a Korean independence activist. He was a member of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, a guerrilla in Manchuria, and a member of the Korean Liberation Army. In 1939, he briefly served as the head of the Provisional Government. After the 1945 liberation of Korea, he served as the head of the U.S. occupational government's Unification Committee at the recommendation of Chough Pyung-ok and Lee Eung-jun.

He was the first commander of a Korean unit after liberation, and he was at odds with the US military government. That government claimed that the appointment of a high-ranking officer should only be done by people from the yangban class.

Biography

Ryu Tongnyŏl was born in March 1879 to father Ryu Jong-sik and mother (surnamed Ch'oe) at 199 Maehwa-ri, Pakchon County, North Pyongan Province, Joseon. When he was 19 years old, he moved to the United States with his cousin and stayed in San Francisco before entering Seongseong School, a preparatory school for the Japanese Military Academy. He then became a soldier.

He graduated from the Japanese Military Academy in 1903. After graduating, he worked as an apprentice officer in the Japanese military and returned to Korea after serving as an assistant inspector at the Japanese Imperial Guard Division.

Ryu Dong-yeol then formed a secret association with No Baek-rin and Yi Dong-hwi as an officer in theKorean Empire army, and planned an assassination of pro-Japanese group Minister Hyochunghoe and 1904 the Russo-Japanese War as an officer in charge of dispatching the Korean Empire, and engaged in Japanese military service and Russian troops near Suncheon, South Pyongan Province. After the end of the Russo-Japanese War, he was dispatched to the Japanese Sixth Army in Gyeongseong, and returned to the Korean Empire Army.

After that, he was appointed as an instructor for the Korean Empire Army Military Academy and a youth school, and transferred to the military service bureau in 1905 (Gwangmu 8). He was promoted to Chamryeong (參領) and was appointed as the second manager of the Royal Protesters' Cavalry Division and Chief of Staff Bureau. In 1906 (Gwangmu 9) he met Ahn chang-ho, who returned from the United States, and participated as one of the founding fathers of Sinminhoe at April in 1907. In August 1907, the Korean Empire army joined the anti-Japanese independence movement when the order of compulsory dissolution was issued.

After the announcement of the military dissolution decree, he went to West Gando, Manchuria, and planned to establish a military academy, but failed and returned home, interacted with Ahn Chang-ho, Yoon Chi-ho, and Lee Sang-jae.

1909 Even after leaving the army as a colonel of the Korean Empire in August, he was involved in the Seou Association, the Shinminhoe, and the Northwest Association, as well as in National Debt Repayment Movement. After serving as the cavalry leader of the former Korean army, he actively participated in the Patriotic Enlightenment Movement and published an intense sentence against Japanese imperialism in 1909. On October 26 of that year, when Ahn Jung-geun killed Hirobumi Ito, he was designated as one of the people behind him and was arrested. As Japan became more monitored due to these activities, he fled to China Beijing.

Exile in China

After exile, he worked in Beijing and various places in Korea to raise funds for the independence forces. During his exile, he used the names Yoo Dong-seol and Yoo Cheong-song under pseudonyms in addition to his real name.

In July of that year, he attended the Qingdao Conference in Qingdao, China, where Ahn Chang-ho and others participated as vice chairman of the New People's Association, and strongly insisted on gathering comrades and resisting force against the Japanese Government-General and Japan, and was arrested by Japanese consulate police and repatriated to Joseon. 1911 In August, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison, the maximum sentence in the first trial, along with Yun Chi-ho, Yang Ki-tak, and Lee Seung-hoon, for their involvement in the 105-Man Incident manipulated by the Japanese Empire. On March 13, 1920, he was found not guilty due to no charges, but was sentenced to one and a half years in prison. After being released in 1913, he fled to Manchuria. Since then, he has mainly participated in independence movements in Jilin Province.

In 1913, Russia's Primorsky Krai declared the revival of the New People's Association with Lee Dong-hwi, Lee Gap, and Lee Kang, and re-organized the New People's Association by electing heads of each region of Russia. He also joined Gwoneophoe with Lee Sang-seol and Lee Dong-hwi.

1917 Russia Yeonhaeju participated in the formation of the Jeonro Han Chinese 族 Association with Kim Lip, Moon Chang-beom, and others in Ssangseong (雙). He joined the Junggwangdan 團 of Seoil (徐) in 1918, and participated in the signing as one of the 39 members of the Declaration of Independence for Jilin by independence activists in Manchuria along with Kim chwa-chin and Kim Dong-sam in February [1919]. Afterwards, he founded Shinhan Revolutionary Party, Korean Socialist Party, and Korean Communist Party, established the Goryeo Military Government Council, and was elected as a member of the military government.

In March 1918, he attended the Korean People's Revolutionary Party Congress held in Khabarovsk under the supervision of Krasnochekov, chairman of the Dongwon People's Committee, along with Lee Dong-hwi, Kim Lip, Lee Dong-nyeong, and Yang Ki-tak, and soon founded and promoted The Korean Socialist Party. In May 1918, he was appointed the military director of the Korean Socialist Party and the head of the military school. In addition, he was in charge of editing and translating Korean history and geography textbooks published by the Korean Socialist Party.

When the Japanese military dispatched to Siberia, he participated in the Korean American Red Guards organized by the Korean Socialist Party in July 1918, and participated in the Battle of Iman as the commander of the Korean Red Guards. When Khabarovsk was captured by the White Russian Army on September 4, 1918, he was arrested by the White Russian Army on September 10 while fleeing with Kim Alexandra Petrovna and others, and was released after interrogation and summary trial.