As of November 2020, there are a total of independence 51 fighters from Okcheon. Classifying them by different types of independent movements, more than half of them (26 people) participated in the March 1st Independence Movement, 9 of them were part of the domestic anti-Japanese Movement, 6 of them participated in the righteous army, 3 of them took part in the independence movement in China, 2 in the Heroic Struggle, 2 in Student Independence Movements, and 1 each in the Provisional Governement Movement, Independence Movement in Manchuria, and the Independence Movement in United States.
Among them, Independence fighters who worked abroad include the Kwak Joong-kyu & Kwak Jung-sun brothers(supported Yoon Bong-gil’s Bombing at Hongkou Park), Kim Gyu-heung(worked on the Independence Army Project), Kim Eung-sun(demonstrated the transition from the domestic righteous army to the Manchurian Independence Army), Kim Hyun-koo(led the independence movement & Korean press/media in America), Jeon Jwa-han(planned the domestic Heroic Struggle as a part of the Manchurian Independence Army), and Jo Dong-ho(who led the indomitable Heroic Struggle by accepting & embracing different ideologies)
However, the facilities that help us remember and commemorate the history of Okcheon’s Independence Movement are poorly managed at this moment. There is a need to install an ‘Okcheon Independence Movement Memorial Tower (tentative name)’ at a symbolic location of Okcheon, a commemorative monument to remember the 1907 National Debt Repayment Movement and the 1909 Bombing of Yiwon Station (Moon Tae-soo), and a memorial stone at the site of the ‘Manse Movement’ in Iwon and Chungsan, which represents the March 1st Independence Movement of Okcheon.
It is quite disappointing that disputes have been raised over the activities of Jeon Jwa-han and Kim Gyu-heung, who are regarded by many as the major figures that represent the Independence Activists of Okcheon. There has already been some controversies over the life & activities of Jeon Jwa-han since the 1980s. As for Kim Gyu-heung, some problems were raised in 2016, after the discovery of the content written in 『宇都宮太郞日記』, and even more dispute have been raised since the letters that Kim Kyu-heung sent to 宇都宮太郞was found in 2019. If the content in those documents/letters are true, Kim Kyu-heung’s status and achievements as an independence fighter could be completely denied. Therefore, it is time to focus on collecting and analyzing data to prove the facts. If such historical records are proven to be true, we should reconsider our view on Kim Kyu-heung as a person and an independence fighter.