Yi Yuk-sa
| Yi Won-rok | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
May 18, 1904 Andong, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Korean Empire |
| Died | January 16, 1944 (aged 39) Beijing, China |
| Resting place | Andong, South Korea |
| Pen name | Yi Yuk-sa |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Language | Korean |
| Nationality | Korean Empire |
| Period | 1930-44 |
| Genre | Poetry |
| Literary movement | Korean independence |
| Spouse | An Il-yang (안일양) |
| Children | I Ok-bi (이옥비), I Dong-bak (이동박) |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 이원록 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | |
| Revised Romanization | I Won-rok |
| McCune–Reischauer | Yi Wŏn.rok |
| Pen name | |
| Hangul | 이육사 |
| Hanja | |
| Revised Romanization | I Yuk-sa |
| McCune–Reischauer | Yi Yuk.sa |
| Childhood name | |
| Hangul | 이원삼 |
| Hanja | |
| Revised Romanization | I Won-sam |
| McCune–Reischauer | Yi Wŏnsam |
Yi Won-rok (May 18, 1904 – January 16, 1944), better known by his pen name Yi Yuksa was a Korean poet and independence activist. As one of Korea's most famous poets, he and his works symbolize the spirit of the Korean anti-Japanese resistance of the 1930s and 1940s.
Yi was born in Dosan-myeon, Andong on May 18, 1904. Yi was a descendant of the scholar Yi Hwang, better known as Toegye. Yi completed his basic education in Andong, graduating at the age of 15 in 1919. In 1920, at age 17, he moved with his family to Daegu and married. Yi became a teacher at the academy at which he studied, but in 1924 left for Japan to study in University.
In 1925 Yi returned to Daegu and along with his brothers, joined the Uiyoldan, an association formed in response to Japanese repression of the Korean Independence Movement. The Uiyoldan was associated with acts of sabotage and assassination. Yi moved to Beijing in 1925/26, likely because of this association, and studied at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou province. Yi returned to Korean in 1927. When members of the Uiyoldan bombed the Daegu branch of the Choseon Bank, Yi was among the arrested and spent 18 months in prison.
In 1929 Yi began to work as a journalist, and in 1930 he published his first poem “Horse,” in the Choseon Ilbo. From 1931 to 1933 he studied in China, but continued to maintain contacts with the Korean resistance. In 1935 he began to concentrate on his writing, publishing both poems and critical essays. Accounts have Yi arrested a total of 17 times.
In April 1943 he went to Beijing and apparently began smuggling weapons into Korea. In 1943 Yi returned to Korea on the first anniversary of the death of his mother. He was arrested in Korea and transferred to Beijing, where he died in prison on January 16, 1944, at the age of 39. Controversy lingered after Yi's death and there are allegations from eye witnesses in the prison that suggest Yi was subject to live experimentation - which was common practice in Japanese prisons and comfort women stations, during the period. It is reported Yi's bloodstream was injected with saline solution in the prison hospital - which subsequently killed him. "He was cremated and buried in Miari, Seoul.
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