Seoul: The remains of six Korean independence fighters laid to rest overseas will return home next week on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule, the veterans ministry said Thursday. The government plans to send five teams to the United States, Brazil, and Canada this week to bring home the remains of the six independent fighters, including Moon Yang-mok, the ministry said.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the remains of Moon, who founded an independence fighter group in San Francisco, will return home 120 years after he left his home country in 1905. He died in 1940. The ministry will also send delegations to Los Angeles and Atlanta to repatriate the remains of Lim Chang-mo and Kim Jae-eun, respectively.
The others to be laid to rest in South Korea are Kim Ki-ju and Han Ung-kyu from Brazil and Kim Duck-yoon from Canada, the ministry added. A ceremony to mark the repatriation will take place Wednesday at Seoul National Cemetery in Seoul before they are buried at the national cemetery in the central city of Daejeon later that day.
The ceremony will be held ahead of Liberation Day, which falls on Aug. 15, to mark the 80th anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japan's colonial rule. A total of 155 remains have been returned home, including the six to be repatriated next week, since a project to repatriate independence patriots began in 1946, according to the ministry.