In the spring of 1919, the Korean peninsula was plunged into deep darkness under Japanese colonial military rule. The anger of the Korean people, who had been forced to hold their breath before the guns and swords of the military police since the national humiliation of 1910, finally exploded on March 1st with a massive roar of "Daehan Doknip Manse" (Long Live Korean Independence). The wave of independence protests that began at Tapgol Park spread like wildfire to every corner of the country.
Amidst this massive whirlwind of history, there was a woman who sparked the flame in Gyoha-ri, Paju, Gyeonggi-do: Patriot Im Myeong-ae, a 33-year-old Salvation Army believer.
The Vanguard of Paju Takes to the Streets Before being an ordinary wife and mother, Patriot Im Myeong-ae was an intellectual and a believer awakened to the reality of her nation. On March 10, 1919, she appeared in the schoolyard of Gyoha Public Primary School and led the first independence demonstration in the Paju area alongside over 100 students.
Her struggle continued. On March 25 and 26, she meticulously organized demonstrations with her husband, Patriot Yeom Gyu-ho. She stayed up all night writing manifestos and traveled through villages to gather people. Eventually, a massive crowd of over 700 people followed her, marching to the township office and the police substation to face the Japanese imperialists head-on. Armed Japanese military police responded with gunfire and ruthless suppression.
A Cruel Arrest and a Twist Eventually identified as a leader, Im Myeong-ae was arrested by the Japanese police and transferred to Seodaemun Prison. She was sentenced to one year and six months in prison. At that time, she was heavily pregnant. Carrying the heavy weight of an unborn child, she had stood on the front lines for her country's independence.
A Life Born Behind Bars: The Miracle of Cell No. 8 As her due date approached, the Japanese authorities temporarily released her on sick bail. Around October 1919, Im Myeong-ae gave birth to her child at home. In November, just a month after giving birth, without any postpartum care, Im Myeong-ae was imprisoned in Seodaemun Prison again, holding her newborn baby—who had barely opened its eyes—tightly to her chest.
The place she and her baby were assigned was 'Women's Ward Cell No. 8,' where many female independence activists were imprisoned.
Due to harsh torture and severe malnutrition, not a single drop of milk came from Im Myeong-ae's breasts. Inside the freezing winter cell dropping below zero, the newborn was dying of hunger and cold. Then, a young 17-year-old inmate took the hard, sour grains of rice given as rations, chewed them for a long time, and gently placed the softened rice into the baby's lips. When the bitter cold rose from the floor, she took off her thin prison uniform to cover the baby and dried the frozen diapers on her own stomach using her body heat. The baby was not just Im Myeong-ae's child, but a 'Child of Joseon' raised by the entirety of Cell No. 8.
On This Day, March 1, 1920 When a prison demonstration erupted in Cell No. 8 to mark the first anniversary of the March 1st Movement, Im Myeong-ae hugged the baby—who had survived thanks to the warmth of her comrades and the 17-year-old girl—and shouted for independence together.
That young 17-year-old girl stood at the very front, leading the cheers. The Japanese authorities brutally suppressed the girl who led this protest.
The Girl Dragged to the Underground Solitary Cell After the prison protest, the Japanese separated the girl from her comrades in Cell No. 8 and dragged her to an underground solitary cell (torture chamber) devoid of light. There, cruel torture that no human could endure continued every day. The warmhearted girl who used to chew rice to feed the baby in Cell No. 8 slowly lost the flame of life amidst the extreme cold, torture, and malnutrition of the solitary cell.
🥀 A Devastating Farewell Inside the Prison Ultimately, about seven months after leading the prison protest, the young girl ended her short life on September 28, 1920, at Seodaemun Prison due to the severe aftereffects of torture. That girl was a student at Ewha Hakdang, and her name was Yu Gwan-sun.
Release, Unending Hardship, and the Baby's Death In the spring of 1921, Patriot Im Myeong-ae was released after completing her sentence with her husband. With a body ruined by the aftereffects of torture and under the suffocating surveillance of the Japanese police, they endured a life of extreme poverty.
Remembering the Nameless Stars Despite enduring severe suffering, Patriot Im Myeong-ae, who steadfastly held on to life, passed away in 1938 at the age of 52 without seeing the liberation of her homeland. Historians believe that the baby boy from Seodaemun Prison had already died at a young age in poverty before her passing.
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