이청천과 한국광복군

Nationalist Group’s Perception of Political Situation and Claim of “Focus of All National Capacity” in the Early Stage of the Singanhoe

Yi Cheong-cheon was a supreme leader who established the Korean Independence Army(Kwangbokkun) and led it as a commander in chief. Yi Cheong-cheon was the Secretary of Defence(軍務長) when Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea was going to establish the Korean Independence Army. As the Secretary of Defence Yi Cheong-cheon took care of practical affairs to establish the Korean Independence Army. He was appointed commander in chief with the establishment of the Korean Independence Army(Kwangbokkun) and led it for over six years until May 1946 returning to Korea. The Korean Independence Army was established in poor condition without human ties and financial support in China. At first when the Korean Independence Army was established, it had only the General Headquarters with thirty men including military executives working in Korean Provisional Government. The Korean Independence Army was established just with the General Headquarters. And then it gradually took shape as a military organization through the supplement of military force. The Korean Independence Army gathered Korean young men living in the region occupied by Japanese army. And Korean young men conscripted as student soldiers or conscript soldiers by Japanese Imperialism escaped Japanese army and joined in the Korean Independence Army. Therefore the military power of the Korean Independence Army gradually became strong. At that time of the establishment, the Korean Independence Army had only thirty men but after five years it had over seven hundred soldiers. And it developed as a de facto military organization with three branch troops as well as the General Headquarters. Yi Cheong-cheon had a strategy to get the status of the Allied Powers after the war through performing the anti-Japanese war with the Allied Powers. And he did it. He fought Japanese army with Chinese army and succeeded in combined operations with English army in the battlefields of India and Burma in August 1943 in which he dispatched the Korean Independence Army. And he performed combined operations with OSS(Office of Strategic Services) of the U.S.. He made the soldiers of the Korean Independence Army drill the OSS training and reached an agreement on internal infiltration operation with the responsible person, William B. Donovan after the completion of training for the first-term soldiers in August 4, 1945. But it was not practised because Japanese Imperialism surrendered. After Japanese surrender Yi Cheong-cheon enlarged the scale of the Korean Independence Army. He added Korean young men in China in the Korean Independence Army and made temporary branch troops in Shanghai, Hankou, Beijing, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Kwangtung. But he couldn t go into action like that anymore because the Armed Services Committee of China hindered the activity to enlarge the Korean Independence Army. Yi Cheong-cheon announced disbandment of the Korean Independence Army in May 1946. He returned to homeland in April 21, 1947 after acting as a member of Korean delegation in China. After an exile to West Manchuria in 1919, Yi Cheong-cheon, a graduate of Japanese Military Academy was the man who fought Japan in the front line by the liberation of Korea. He organized armies for Korean independence in the areas of West and North Manchuria against Japan and established the Korean Independence Army under Korean Provisional Government and then got into action as a commander in chief. He fought in the front line for the most long time in the history of Korean independence movement. We can say Yi Cheong-cheon is the symbol in Korean armed struggle against Japan.