Baek Gwan-su (白寬洙, January 28, 1889 – October 25, 1951) was an educator, journalist and independence activist during the Japanese colonial period, and a politician during the United States Army Military Government in Korea. His art name was Geuncheon (芹村), and his family seat was Suwon. Born in Goch
Born~Died Jan 28, 1889 ~ Oct 25, 1951Last edited Oct 15, 2026, 2:51 PM
Baek Gwan-su (白寬洙, January 28, 1889 – October 25, 1951) was an educator, journalist and independence activist during the Japanese colonial period, and a politician during the United States Army Military Government in Korea. His art name was Geuncheon (芹村), and his family seat was Suwon. Born in Gochang County, Jeolla Province, he served as chairman of the transportation committee under the Emergency National Assembly of the US Army Military Government and as a member of the first National Assembly of the Republic of Korea.
While studying in Japan in 1919, he led the February 8 Declaration of Independence by Korean students in Japan together with Shin Ik-hee and others, which influenced the March 1st Movement. After returning home, he briefly worked as an educator at Joongang School, and then joined the Dong-a Ilbo and was active in the press. After liberation, he served as a member of the Constitutional National Assembly and took part in drafting the constitution.
Biography
Childhood
He was born in Saengeun-ri, Seongnae-myeon, Gochang County, Jeolla Province. He named his art name Geuncheon (芹村) after the "geun" (芹) of his hometown Saengeun-ri. He was a tenth-generation descendant of Hyuam Baek In-gol. Baek In-su was his cousin, and Baek Jeong-gi was a member of his clan and the head of the family lineage. At the age of six, he took Ganjae Jeon U as his teacher and studied Sinology.1
He grew up witnessing his cousin (elder cousin) Gabun Baek In-su (白麟洙) attempt suicide twice in protest against the Protectorate Treaty (Eulsa Protectorate Treaty) and fail. His cousin , who had joined the movement opposing the Protectorate Treaty, stabbed himself in anger when the () was concluded in 1905, but he did not die.
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In 1915, he graduated from the Gyeongseong School of Law. After that, he briefly worked as a teacher at Joongang School.2 He went to Japan and enrolled in the Department of Law at Meiji University (明治大學). In February 1919, in Tokyo (東京), he organized the Korean Youth Independence Corps (朝鮮青年獨立團) centered on Korean students, became its leader, and as one of the eleven student representatives, announced the February 8 Declaration of Independence.
The Korean Youth Independence Corps, on behalf of our two thousand million people, declares before all the nations of the world, which have won the victory of justice and freedom, that we will strive to achieve independence. Our people, with a long history of five thousand years, are truly one of the greatest peoples in the world. Korea has always been the land of our people, and we have never lost a unified state or been under the actual rule of a foreign people. Therefore our people demand from Japan and from the countries of the world the opportunity for our people to exercise self-determination, and if this is not granted, we declare that our people will take free action for survival and will surely achieve independence. – Declaration text of the February 8 Declaration of Independence
On February 8, 1919, at 2 p.m., Korean students gathered in the main hall of the Korean Christian Young Men's Association building in Tokyo, Japan. Kim Do-yeon, Kim Chul-su, Shin Ik-hee and others assembled. Upon introduction by the moderator, Baek Gwan-su, the leader of the Korean Youth Independence Corps, who took the stage early in the event, read the declaration of independence in a calm voice. When the Japanese police learned of the students' reading of the declaration, they stormed into the Korean Christian Young Men's Association building to prevent the declaration, and a scuffle broke out between them and the students who blocked them, and the venue quickly turned into chaos. Even so, Baek Gwan-su's reading continued, and then the meeting was closed with Kim Do-yeon (金度演) reading the resolution and moderator Yun Chang-seok offering a prayer.
In 1925, the Communist Party of Korea was organized in Joseon, and the situation became confused due to the death of Sun Yat-sen, the founding of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, and the debate between reformist factions. Stimulated by this, Baek Gwan-su moved to form an organization together with Kim Joon-yeon, Ahn Jae-hong, Baek Nam-hun, Hong Myong-hi, Choi Doo-sun and others to consolidate nationalists. In May 1925, together with Kim Joon-yeon (金俊淵), Ahn Jae-hong (安在鴻) and Baek Nam-hun (白南薰), he founded the Joseon Sajeong Research Association (朝鮮事情硏究會) and tried to nurture the organization of the national movement, but it failed.2 After that, he tried to unify even the nationalist organizations, such as merging the Yeonjeonghoe and the Pacific Problems Research Association, to prevent communism from taking root in the country.
Next, in May 1925, he attended the First Pacific Conference held in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, together with Song Jin-woo, Kim Hwal-ran, Yun Chi-ho and others, and then returned. In December 1926, he concurrently served as editor and business director of the Chosun Ilbo. When the Singanhoe, a unified national organization transcending left and right ideologies, was launched in February 1927, Baek Gwan-su participated as a representative of the Chosun Ilbo company.2 In the summer of 1927, he attended the Second Pacific Conference held in Hawaii, United States, sponsored by the World Young Men's Christian Association, as a representative of the Chosun Ilbo, which was run by Yi Sang-jae, under the editor's position.3
In 1928, an editorial in the Chosun Ilbo, "The Sacrifice of Delayed Bail" (保釋)지연의 희생, became an issue, and he was taken to the Police Affairs Bureau of the Japanese Government-General of Korea and, together with chief editorAhn Jae-hong, was arrested and imprisoned, but in 1929 he was temporarily released to attend the Third Pan-Pacific Conference held in Hawaii. After that, the Chosun Ilbo stopped publishing for one year and four months. He was released in 1930 after completing his sentence.
In 1932, he established Hongmunsa (弘文社) and devoted himself to publishing and magazine production. That year, he launched the magazine Dongbang Pyeongnon (東方評論) and published it for three years. However, under the suppression of the Japanese, in 1935 the magazine was ordered closed on the grounds that its content was seditious.
Late Japanese Colonial Period
In May 1937, he took office as the seventh president of the Dong-a Ilbo company. In the late Japanese colonial period, after the Second Sino-Japanese War, he made minor contributions to pro-Japanese organizations, such as serving as a steering committee member of the Gyeongseong Military Support League and as a founding member of the celebration for the enactment of the Joseon volunteer soldier system, but he refused to accept titles or property from the Japanese Government-General.5
On December 18, 1939, at the auditorium of Ewha Women's College in Jeongdong, the founding general meeting of the support association was held with about 80 people involved in attendance. There, the twelve-article regulations of the support association were passed and 25 members were elected.6 Baek Gwan-su was also elected as one of the members of the Ewha College support association.6 In 1940, when the Japanese forcibly closed the Dong-a Ilbo, Baek Gwan-su resisted this and ultimately refused to sign and affix his seal to the closure notice, and was taken to and detained at the Jongno Police Station in Gyeongseong for one month2 before being released.
After his release, he retreated to his hometown of Gochang, Jeolla Province, and lived in seclusion. During his seclusion, he refused the Japanese Government-General's demands to join various pro-Japanese organizations, to give speeches encouraging students to enlist in the army, and to adopt Japanese names, and he avoided going out, spending five years until liberation writing poetry and calligraphy and remaining silent.7
On May 10, 1948, he was elected as a member of the Constitutional National Assembly, and on June 1 he was appointed a member of the Constitutional Drafting Committee.9 As a member of the Constitutional Drafting Committee, he served as the first chairman of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, a constitutional drafting member, and a member of the drafting committee for the Government Organization Act, among other posts.
In March 1950, together with Seo Sang-il, he submitted to the National Assembly the first amendment proposal for a cabinet responsibility system in South Korea, but it was rejected by a margin of two votes.
In June 1950, during the Korean War, he was in Seoul and, unable to flee, was taken north. Only news that he had died on October 25, 1961 became known, and details of his activities after that cannot be known in detail.
Legacy
His grave is located in the Special Cemetery for Those Who Have Passed Away in the Northern Korea Association in Sinmi-ri, Pyongyang, North Korea.10
On August 15, 1983, a statue of Baek Gwan-su was unveiled in the Saemaul Park in Gochang-eup, Gochang County, Jeonbuk, his hometown.
Recently, Baek Gwan-su was also the subject of controversy regarding the Dictionary of Pro-Japanese Collaborators published by the Minjok Munje Research Institute. According to the compilation committee, the grounds cited were that "Baek Gwan-su served as a steering committee member of the Gyeongseong Military Support League and participated as a founding member of the celebration for the enactment of the Joseon volunteer soldier system." However, Baek Gwan-su himself refused to accept titles or property from the Government-General, and after the 1940s he gave up all activities and secluded himself in the countryside, resisting the Government-General passively through "seclusion." Therefore, the Minjok Munje Research Institute confirmed that "Baek Gwan-su was not a pro-Japanese collaborator."5
Yang Hyeon-hye, In Search of the Breath of Light and Hope (Ewha Womans University Press, 2007), p. 104 ↩↩2
Japanese colonial period: In the final years of the Japanese colonial period, the Japanese were desperately resisting in nearly every field. Socially prominent people were, against their will, having their names misappropriated and placed on the rosters of various organizations without permission. (Representative examples are Hong Myong-hi, Ahn Jae-hong, Yeo Woon-hyung, Heo Heon, Cho Man-sik, Lee Guk-ro, Lee In and others. Baek Gwan-su was also subjected to misappropriation of his name.) Please refer to the book People of the Chosun Ilbo: Colonial Period Edition. ↩
Lee Yeon-bok, Thirty Years of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea (Hakjajaryowon, 2006), p. 91 ↩
Baek Gwan-su (白寬洙, January 28, 1889 – October 25, 1951) was an educator, journalist and independence activist during the Japanese colonial period, and a politician during the United States Army Military Government in Korea. His art name was Geuncheon (芹村), and his family seat was Suwon. Born in Gochang County, Jeolla Province, he served as chairman of the transportation committee under the Emergency National Assembly of the US Army Military Government and as a member of the first National Assembly of the Republic of Korea.
While studying in Japan in 1919, he led the February 8 Declaration of Independence by Korean students in Japan together with Shin Ik-hee and others, which influenced the March 1st Movement. After returning home, he briefly worked as an educator at Joongang School, and then joined the Dong-a Ilbo and was active in the press. After liberation, he served as a member of the Constitutional National Assembly and took part in drafting the constitution.
Biography
Childhood
He was born in Saengeun-ri, Seongnae-myeon, Gochang County, Jeolla Province. He named his art name Geuncheon (芹村) after the "geun" (芹) of his hometown Saengeun-ri. He was a tenth-generation descendant of Hyuam Baek In-gol. Baek In-su was his cousin, and Baek Jeong-gi was a member of his clan and the head of the family lineage. At the age of six, he took Ganjae Jeon U as his teacher and studied Sinology.1
He grew up witnessing his cousin (elder cousin) Gabun (白麟洙) attempt suicide twice in protest against the () and fail. His cousin , who had joined the movement opposing the Protectorate Treaty, stabbed himself in anger when the () was concluded in 1905, but he did not die.
In 1915, he graduated from the Gyeongseong School of Law. After that, he briefly worked as a teacher at Joongang School.2 He went to Japan and enrolled in the Department of Law at Meiji University (明治大學). In February 1919, in Tokyo (東京), he organized the Korean Youth Independence Corps (朝鮮青年獨立團) centered on Korean students, became its leader, and as one of the eleven student representatives, announced the February 8 Declaration of Independence.
The Korean Youth Independence Corps, on behalf of our two thousand million people, declares before all the nations of the world, which have won the victory of justice and freedom, that we will strive to achieve independence. Our people, with a long history of five thousand years, are truly one of the greatest peoples in the world. Korea has always been the land of our people, and we have never lost a unified state or been under the actual rule of a foreign people. Therefore our people demand from Japan and from the countries of the world the opportunity for our people to exercise self-determination, and if this is not granted, we declare that our people will take free action for survival and will surely achieve independence. – Declaration text of the February 8 Declaration of Independence
On February 8, 1919, at 2 p.m., Korean students gathered in the main hall of the Korean Christian Young Men's Association building in Tokyo, Japan. Kim Do-yeon, Kim Chul-su, Shin Ik-hee and others assembled. Upon introduction by the moderator, Baek Gwan-su, the leader of the Korean Youth Independence Corps, who took the stage early in the event, read the declaration of independence in a calm voice. When the Japanese police learned of the students' reading of the declaration, they stormed into the Korean Christian Young Men's Association building to prevent the declaration, and a scuffle broke out between them and the students who blocked them, and the venue quickly turned into chaos. Even so, Baek Gwan-su's reading continued, and then the meeting was closed with Kim Do-yeon (金度演) reading the resolution and moderator Yun Chang-seok offering a prayer.
In 1925, the Communist Party of Korea was organized in Joseon, and the situation became confused due to the death of Sun Yat-sen, the founding of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, and the debate between reformist factions. Stimulated by this, Baek Gwan-su moved to form an organization together with Kim Joon-yeon, Ahn Jae-hong, Baek Nam-hun, Hong Myong-hi, Choi Doo-sun and others to consolidate nationalists. In May 1925, together with Kim Joon-yeon (金俊淵), Ahn Jae-hong (安在鴻) and Baek Nam-hun (白南薰), he founded the Joseon Sajeong Research Association (朝鮮事情硏究會) and tried to nurture the organization of the national movement, but it failed.2 After that, he tried to unify even the nationalist organizations, such as merging the Yeonjeonghoe and the Pacific Problems Research Association, to prevent communism from taking root in the country.
Next, in May 1925, he attended the First Pacific Conference held in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, together with Song Jin-woo, Kim Hwal-ran, Yun Chi-ho and others, and then returned. In December 1926, he concurrently served as editor and business director of the Chosun Ilbo. When the Singanhoe, a unified national organization transcending left and right ideologies, was launched in February 1927, Baek Gwan-su participated as a representative of the Chosun Ilbo company.2 In the summer of 1927, he attended the Second Pacific Conference held in Hawaii, United States, sponsored by the World Young Men's Christian Association, as a representative of the Chosun Ilbo, which was run by Yi Sang-jae, under the editor's position.3
In 1928, an editorial in the Chosun Ilbo, "The Sacrifice of Delayed Bail" (保釋)지연의 희생, became an issue, and he was taken to the Police Affairs Bureau of the Japanese Government-General of Korea and, together with chief editorAhn Jae-hong, was arrested and imprisoned, but in 1929 he was temporarily released to attend the Third Pan-Pacific Conference held in Hawaii. After that, the Chosun Ilbo stopped publishing for one year and four months. He was released in 1930 after completing his sentence.
In 1932, he established Hongmunsa (弘文社) and devoted himself to publishing and magazine production. That year, he launched the magazine Dongbang Pyeongnon (東方評論) and published it for three years. However, under the suppression of the Japanese, in 1935 the magazine was ordered closed on the grounds that its content was seditious.
Late Japanese Colonial Period
In May 1937, he took office as the seventh president of the Dong-a Ilbo company. In the late Japanese colonial period, after the Second Sino-Japanese War, he made minor contributions to pro-Japanese organizations, such as serving as a steering committee member of the Gyeongseong Military Support League and as a founding member of the celebration for the enactment of the Joseon volunteer soldier system, but he refused to accept titles or property from the Japanese Government-General.5
On December 18, 1939, at the auditorium of Ewha Women's College in Jeongdong, the founding general meeting of the support association was held with about 80 people involved in attendance. There, the twelve-article regulations of the support association were passed and 25 members were elected.6 Baek Gwan-su was also elected as one of the members of the Ewha College support association.6 In 1940, when the Japanese forcibly closed the Dong-a Ilbo, Baek Gwan-su resisted this and ultimately refused to sign and affix his seal to the closure notice, and was taken to and detained at the Jongno Police Station in Gyeongseong for one month2 before being released.
After his release, he retreated to his hometown of Gochang, Jeolla Province, and lived in seclusion. During his seclusion, he refused the Japanese Government-General's demands to join various pro-Japanese organizations, to give speeches encouraging students to enlist in the army, and to adopt Japanese names, and he avoided going out, spending five years until liberation writing poetry and calligraphy and remaining silent.7
On May 10, 1948, he was elected as a member of the Constitutional National Assembly, and on June 1 he was appointed a member of the Constitutional Drafting Committee.9 As a member of the Constitutional Drafting Committee, he served as the first chairman of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, a constitutional drafting member, and a member of the drafting committee for the Government Organization Act, among other posts.
In March 1950, together with Seo Sang-il, he submitted to the National Assembly the first amendment proposal for a cabinet responsibility system in South Korea, but it was rejected by a margin of two votes.
In June 1950, during the Korean War, he was in Seoul and, unable to flee, was taken north. Only news that he had died on October 25, 1961 became known, and details of his activities after that cannot be known in detail.
Legacy
His grave is located in the Special Cemetery for Those Who Have Passed Away in the Northern Korea Association in Sinmi-ri, Pyongyang, North Korea.10
On August 15, 1983, a statue of Baek Gwan-su was unveiled in the Saemaul Park in Gochang-eup, Gochang County, Jeonbuk, his hometown.
Recently, Baek Gwan-su was also the subject of controversy regarding the Dictionary of Pro-Japanese Collaborators published by the Minjok Munje Research Institute. According to the compilation committee, the grounds cited were that "Baek Gwan-su served as a steering committee member of the Gyeongseong Military Support League and participated as a founding member of the celebration for the enactment of the Joseon volunteer soldier system." However, Baek Gwan-su himself refused to accept titles or property from the Government-General, and after the 1940s he gave up all activities and secluded himself in the countryside, resisting the Government-General passively through "seclusion." Therefore, the Minjok Munje Research Institute confirmed that "Baek Gwan-su was not a pro-Japanese collaborator."5
Yang Hyeon-hye, In Search of the Breath of Light and Hope (Ewha Womans University Press, 2007), p. 104 ↩↩2
Japanese colonial period: In the final years of the Japanese colonial period, the Japanese were desperately resisting in nearly every field. Socially prominent people were, against their will, having their names misappropriated and placed on the rosters of various organizations without permission. (Representative examples are Hong Myong-hi, Ahn Jae-hong, Yeo Woon-hyung, Heo Heon, Cho Man-sik, Lee Guk-ro, Lee In and others. Baek Gwan-su was also subjected to misappropriation of his name.) Please refer to the book People of the Chosun Ilbo: Colonial Period Edition. ↩
Lee Yeon-bok, Thirty Years of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea (Hakjajaryowon, 2006), p. 91 ↩