CNU is continuing its efforts to discover laudable figures who have devoted themselves to overseas independence movements, even in the era of COVID-19 and the “untact” (non-contact) social distancing measures thereafter.

According to the research team of Professor Kim Jae-gi (Department of Political Science and International Relations), the research team is using social networking sites (SNSs) to search for ethnic Korean descendants of independence activists in Mexico at a time when overseas field research is difficult due to COVID-19.
 
During the two months of July and August, Professor Kim's team shared photos of 300 Korean Mexican descendants and meritorious figures involved in independence movements with related data through Facebook to identify family relations. Twenty-five independence activists were found through cross-analysis of records of the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, lists of Korean immigrants to Mexico, and articles from Shinhanminbo, which was published by the agency of the Korean People's Association.
 
After immigrating to Mexico in 1905, these ethnic Koreans formed the Korean People's Association in the District of Mexico, a group representing Korean independence movements in North America in 1909. They supported the March 1st Independence Movement (1919) and the Gwangju Student Independence Movement (1929). The research team added that they raised funds for various figures and events related to the independence of Korea, such as activists Yun Bong-gil and Lee Bong-Chang, the preservation campaign for the remains of Admiral Yi Sun-sin, donations and population tax campaigns, and the Liberation Army group support campaign.

Professor Kim said, “There are still 60 people in Mexico and Cuba that have not been identified or given the merit and decoration, and there are more than 200 people who made contributions to these independence movements by organizing fundraising campaigns. We should discover the descendants of independence activists in Mexico and Cuba and we need special policies to help discover descendants of independence activists and help them acquire Korean citizenship.”