뉴스레터

  Hong was born on January 17, 1892 in Gyeongun-dong, Seoul as the eldest of three sons and two daughters of Hong Wan-seop, a 30th-generation descendant of the Namyang Hong clan. He was raised in Munho-ri, Yangsu-gun, Gyeonggi-do, a single-clan village of the Namyang Hong clan, by his father who was a fairly large lumber merchant. He later moved to Seoul and attended Pai Chai School. He married a woman from the Neungseong Gu clan and had two children. He participated in the independence movement and fled to Primorsky Krai to avoid the pursuit of the Japanese police. 

  His “Imperial Japan Overseas Passport” issued by the Police Administration Bureau of North Hamyeong indicates “November 18, Meiji 43(1910), Poyeom Sadeok Port(Port of Vladivostok), Name In Jeong-hwan, Age 17, Address 12-6 Sajwa 1-dong, Busan-jin, Busan-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do, Joseon.” This is proof that false personal information was written to avoid the surveillance of the Japanese Empire. Hong continued to use the name In Jeong-hwan as “In Chiyon Fuan,” the French spelling of the name, when registering for residency in Suippes, France.

  He had five pieces of identification with him which included a Japanese passport, a Russian ID, a completed document to apply for a Chinese passport, a French residence card, and an application for registration of Korean nationals residing abroad submitted to the Korean Legation in France in 1948. He sought asylum in Vladivostok in 1910 and traveled across Siberia to Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) for work. In 1917, Hong participated in the Russian Civil War for eight months as a soldier in the White Army of Russia, but the enemy’s victory pushed back the army to Murmansk, the northernmost part of Russia. There were about 500 Koreans residing in the city. 200 Korean residents boarded Santa Elena, the last vessel of the withdrawing British army, and arrived in Edinburgh, UK. But Japan, who was an ally of the UK, tried to repatriate every Korean laborer to Qingdao, China. Hwang Gi-hwan of the Mission of the Republic of Korea in Paris rescued about 37 Koreans by negotiating with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the UK and the Ministry of Labour of France. Hong was included in the rescue and departed from Stephenson Port in the UK via London, passed through the Strait of Dover, and arrived in France. He settled in a small town called Suippes, 200 km east of Paris. Hong, along with other Korean laborers who settled in this town, was placed in projects to clean the devastated battlefield, lay dead bodies, and build a graveyard. I found the list of Koreans registered at the time at the Departmental Archives of Marne in 2018 which revealed the true identity of Koreans in Suippes who were only conveyed in words. On this list, “Coréen(Korean)” was written as their nationality, and Hong Jae-ha’s nickname, “In Chiyon Fuan,” could also be found. Korean laborers in Suippes gathered with Korean international students who later arrived to form the first Korean group in France called the Association of Korean Residents in France which was led by Hwang Gi-hwan of the Mission of the Republic of Korea in Paris and Hong Jae-ha. Koreans in Suippes were welcomed due to their diligence, respectfulness, and upright conduct. The French government awarded them with bronze metals in 1921 for their devotion to work.