Kim Chwajin

Kim Chwajin (Korean: 김좌진; Hanja: 金佐鎭; 24 November 1889 – 24 January 1930), also known by his art name Paegya, was a Korean military general, independence activist and anarchist. Born into a noble family, Kim was educated at a military academy shortly before the Japanese annexation of Korea. After spending three years in prison for freeing his family's slaves, he joined the Korean independence movement and went to Manchuria to fight against the Empire of Japan. There he established the Northern Military Administration Office and trained Korean soldiers in guerrilla warfare, before going on to lead the Korean Independence Army to victory in the Battle of Cheongsanri. He then co-founded the Korean Independence Corps and went to Siberia, but was forced back to Manchuria following the Free City Incident. Kim subsequently fell under the influence of anarchism, and in 1925, he established the New People's Administration, which he intended to follow egalitarian and libertarian principles. Following a split in the Administration, he joined together with young socialists and anarchists to establish the Korean People's Association in Manchuria, a self-governing federation of agricultural cooperatives. Only a year later, in 1930, he was assassinated by a young member of the Communist Party of Korea. Kim is considered a national hero in modern-day South Korea and has been compared to the Ukrainian anarchist Nestor Makhno.