Yi Bong-chang
Korean Patriotic Organization member who threw a bomb at the Japanese emperor’s carriage in Tokyo
Born in Yongsan, Seoul, he worked from an early age and went to Japan as a labourer, where he faced discrimination as a Korean. In 1931 he came to the Provisional Government in Shanghai saying he meant to kill the Japanese emperor, and became the first member of Kim Gu's Korean Patriotic Organization.
On 8 January 1932, outside the Sakuradamon gate in Tokyo, he threw a grenade at the emperor's procession returning from a military review. The emperor was unhurt, but the world learned that an attack on him had been made in the heart of Japan. When Chinese newspapers wrote that the bomb had "unfortunately missed", Japan took offence, and this became one pretext for the Shanghai Incident at the end of the month.
Arrested on the spot and tried in secret, he was executed at Ichigaya Prison on 10 October 1932. His act revived the flagging Provisional Government and independence movement, and was followed three months later by Yun Bong-gil's. He was posthumously awarded the Republic of Korea Medal in 1962.