Yu Man-gyeom

Yu Man-gyeom (兪萬兼, July 13, 1889 – December 13, 1944) was a bureaucrat during the Japanese colonial period. He was the eldest son of Yu Gil-jun and the elder brother of Yu Eok-gyeom. His family seat was Gigye (杞溪).

Life

He was a graduate of Paichai Hakdang and Heungwha School. Influenced by his father Yu Gil-jun, a Enlightenment Party member and a expert on Japan, and by his uncle Yu Seong-jun, he studied in Japan and graduated from the Tokyo Imperial University in 1917, after which he followed the typical path of an elite bureaucrat.

In 1920, he was appointed magistrate of Mungyeong County by the Government-General of Chosen, and he later served as head of the general affairs section of South Gyeongsang Province (1921) and head of the social affairs section of the Internal Affairs Department of North Gyeongsang Province (1924). He then served as a secretary in the Education Bureau of the Government-General (1926) and was promoted to counselor of South Pyongan Province (1928) and counselor of North Gyeongsang Province (1930). He also served as head of the social affairs section of the Education Bureau (1932), counselor of South Pyongan Province (1934), and governor of North Chungcheong Province.

In 1935, he was listed as one of 353 Korean meritorious persons in the Chosen Kōrōsha Meikan compiled by the Government-General.¹² In May 1940, he refused to adopt a Japanese name under the name change policy, and he left his post under pressure from the Government-General of Chosen. Shortly afterward, he became vice-director of the , a Confucian organization.