Yi Seok-yeong
Also called: Yi Seok-young
Elder brother of Yi Hoe-yeong who gave the great fortune he had inherited from his adoptive father Yi Yu-won to found the Sinheung school, and died in poverty in Shanghai
A descendant of the Joseon minister Yi Hang-bok, he was the second of the six sons of Yi Yu-seung, Minister of Personnel. Adopted by Yi Yu-won, Chief State Councillor under King Gojong, he inherited Yi Yu-won's great fortune; it was said that one could not walk from Seoul to Yangju without crossing the family's land.
When Korea was annexed in 1910, the six brothers, led by his younger brother Yi Hoe-yeong, sold everything they owned and that winter crossed the Yalu with dozens of family members into western Jiandao. Of all the brothers, Yi Seok-yeong contributed the largest share. The money founded the self-governing Gyeonghaksa and the Sinheung school at Samwonbo in Liuhe County in 1911, and bought land so that Korean settlers could farm. The school became the Sinheung Military Academy in 1919; its 3,500 or so graduates formed the core of the armed independence struggle, including the Battle of Cheongsanri.
The fortune was spent entirely on the school and the independence army. He later moved via Beijing to Shanghai, where he lived in such poverty that he often went without food, and died there in 1934. His son Yi Gyu-jun joined the Damuldan, a militant group in Beijing. He was posthumously awarded the Order of Merit for National Foundation (Patriotism Medal) in 1991. Of the six brothers, only the fifth, Yi Si-yeong, lived to return home after liberation.