Kim Jwa-jin
Commander of the Northern Military Administration who led the Battle of Cheongsan-ri and later the Sinminbu
Born into a wealthy family in Hongseong, South Chungcheong, at eighteen he freed the family's slaves, gave away land and founded the Homyeong School. Imprisoned in 1911 for raising funds for the independence movement, he joined Park Sang-jin's secret Korean Restoration Society in 1915.
Moving to Manchuria around 1917, he became commander of the Daejonggyo-backed Northern Military Administration and trained fighters at its officer school. From 21 to 26 October 1920, around Cheongsanri (at Baegunpyeong, Wallugu, Eorangchon and elsewhere), his troops, with those of Lee Beom-seok and Hong Beom-do, inflicted a heavy defeat on the Japanese — counted the greatest victory of the independence armies.
After the Jiandao reprisals and the Free City Incident he returned to northern Manchuria, founded the Sinminbu in 1925 and in 1929 the Korean General Federation, working for the self-government of Korean farmers and the rebuilding of the army. On 24 January 1930 he was shot dead at a rice mill near Shanshi station on the Chinese Eastern Railway by a young communist, Park Sang-sil. He was posthumously awarded the Republic of Korea Medal in 1962.