Song Jin-woo (journalist)

Song was born on 8 May 1899 in Damyang, South Jeolla Province, Joseon. He was the fourth son of father Song Hun ({{Korean|hangul=송훈|hanja=宋壎|labels=no}}), and mother (surname Yang {{Korean|hangul=양|hanja=梁|labels=no}}). His {{Transliteration|ko|mr|bon-gwan}} is the {{Ill|Sinpyeong Song clan|ko|신평 송씨}}.

From age four, he learned Classical Chinese under {{Ill|Ki Sam-yeon|ko|기삼연}}. In 1904, fifteen-year-old Song married a woman with the surname Yu ({{Korean|hangul=유|hanja=柳|labels=no}}) from Jeongeup. Two years after this, Song studied more modern subjects in the educational institution Yeonghaksuk ({{Korean|hangul=영학숙|hanja=英學塾|labels=no}}). There, he met Kim Seong-su.

In 1907, while studying at {{Ill|Cheongryuam|ko|장성 청류암 관음전}} (part of the Baegyangsa temple in South Jeolla Province), he decided to study abroad in Japan. Song left the temple and went to study at the Guemho School ({{Korean|hangul=금호학교|hanja=金湖學校|labels=no}}) in Gunsan. By October, he and Kim went to Tokyo, where they studied at the {{Ill|Seisoku Gakuen High School|lt=Seisoku Gakuen English School|ja|正則学園高等学校|ko|세이소쿠 가쿠엔 고등학교}} and Kinjo Middle School {{Nihongo|2=錦城中學校}}. By 1910, the both of them managed to enter Waseda University, but returned to Korea after the news broke that Japan had colonized the peninsula.

The following year, he returned to Japan to study law at Meiji University. There, he started an organization for foreign exchange students and founded a student magazine called {{Ill|Hakchigwang|ko|학지광}}. He graduated in 1915.{{cite web |last=송 |first=남헌 |title=송진우 (宋鎭禹) |trans-title=Song Jin-woo |url=https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0031073 |access-date=2023-07-24 |website=Encyclopedia of Korean Culture}}

File:Kim Seong-soo and Song Jin-woo.jpg

File:1918 Joong Ang High School.jpg

In 1916, he became the vice principal of the {{Ill|Choongang High School|lt=Choongang School|ko|중앙고등학교}}, which Kim had taken over, in Seoul. He later became its principal. In 1918, Song and several others began plotting an uprising against the Japanese colonial government. After the March 1st Movement protests of 1919, Song was arrested and held at Seodaemun Prison. He spent a year and a half in prison, until he was acquitted of all charges and released around October 1920.

In 1921, he became the third chairman of the newspaper The Dong-a Ilbo, following Kim. During his tenure, the paper advocated for Korean nationalist movements such as the {{Ill|Home Product Promotion Campaign|ko|물산장려운동}} and the {{Ill|Private University Establishment Movement|ko|민립대학설립운동}}. In 1923, he founded an organization for Korean expatriates, and fundraised for it around the country. He resigned his post at Ilbo in April 1924, but joined as an advisor in October. In the following year, he was made its editor-in-chief. In 1925, he attended a conference in Hawaii that was organized by Soh Jaipil, and returned home afterwards.

In March 1926, publication of Ilbo was suspended for a second time after it was caught celebrating an anniversary of the March 1st Movement. Song was initially sentenced to six months in prison, but in November his sentence was extended for another six months. He was eventually released in February 1927 due to a clemency order issued in celebration of the beginning of Emperor Hirohito's reign. In October, he became the Ilbo's sixth chairman, again following Kim.

In 1928, Soh held the third iteration of his conference in Kyoto, and Song attended it. In 1930, after the tenth anniversary edition of the Ilbo, the paper's publication was suspended for a third time, but it resumed in September. During his tenure in 1931, the paper advocated for the restoration of {{Ill|Hyeonchungsa Shrine|ko|현충사}} and ran the {{Ill|V Narod Movement|ko|브나로드 운동}}, which promoted rural literacy in order to promote popular resistance sentiment. In the aftermath of the Wanpaoshan Incident, in which conflict broke out between Korean and Chinese farmers in Manchuria, Song published an editorial that chastised the Japanese colonial government's response to the incident and called for peace. For this, Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek sent Song an award.

In August 1936, the Ilbo was discontinued for a fourth time, after it was revealed that it had doctored a photo to remove the Japanese flag from the chest of Sohn Kee-chung, a competitor in the Berlin Olympics. While it was allowed to resume publication on June of the following year, the Governor-General of Chōsen forced its discontinuation again in December 1939. In 1940, Song went over to Japan to protest its closure, but he was arrested while returning to the peninsula. The Ilbo stayed closed for the time being.

After his release, Song isolated himself in his home. He excused his reclusiveness by claiming he had an illness.{{Cite web |last=Son |first=Sae-il |date=2010-03-29 |title=孫世一의 비교 評傳 (73) |trans-title=Son Sae-il's Comparative Critical Biography |url=http://monthly.chosun.com/client/news/viw.asp?ctcd=I&nNewsNumb=201004100072 |access-date=2023-07-25 |website=Monthly Chosun |language=ko}} After the beginning of the Pacific War, on 8 December 1941, the Governor-General began conscripting Korean students to fight in the war. Frustrated by his inability to speak out against this, Song privately wrote that "The Dong-a Ilbo is my mouth, my ears, my breathing nose, my hands, and my feet. How can a man with all of those parts sliced off do anything!"{{Efn|{{Korean|hangul="『동아일보』는 내 입이요 내 귀며 호흡하는 코요 손과 발인데, 그 전부를 잘려버린 사람이 어떻게 행동할 수 있는가!"|labels=no}}}}

After the liberation of Korea, the office of the Governor-General began planning its departure and hand off of control to Korean institutions. The security office had three Korean candidates that they felt who could handle their work: Song, Lyuh Woon-hyung, and Ahn Chai-hong. In mid-August,{{Efn|Chronology is unclear, according to Son.}} the head of security reached out to Song and offered him the position, which came with control over newspapers, broadcasting, transportation, and security. Song refused it. Associates of Song, such as {{Ill|Lee In (independence activist)|lt=Lee In|ko|이인}}, questioned the wisdom of the decision. According to historian {{Ill|Son Sae-il|ko|손세일}}, Song viewed the position as being akin to the role of Wang Jingwei in the Japanese puppet state. The position was then offered to Lyuh, who accepted it.

Lyuh founded the {{Ill|Committee for the Preparation of Korean Independence|ko|조선건국준비위원회}} (CPKI). Lyuh asked Song on a number of occasions to join, but Song refused. On one occasion, their disagreements escalated into a shouting match. To counter the CPKI, Song became the founding leader of the {{Ill|National Foundation Preparation Committee|ko|국민대회준비위원회}} (NFPC) on 7 September and the Korea Democratic Party on 16 September.

In December of that year, the Moscow Conference was held. Afterwards, the United States and Soviet Union announced that they had failed to negotiate the reunification of Korea and that the peninsula would be occupied for 5 years. This roused up the {{Ill|Anti-trusteeship Movement|ko|신탁 통치 반대 운동}}. On the evening of 29 December, Song and members of the Korean Provisional Government held a furious meeting on the results of the conference.

Around 6:00 a.m. on 30 December 1945, Song was assassinated by a group of seven men. Among them was {{Ill|Han Hyeon-wu|ko|한현우}}, a member of the right-wing terrorist group the White Shirts Society.

On 1 March 1963, he was posthumously awarded the Order of Merit for National Foundation, third grade.

• Portrayed by actor Park Geun-hyung in the 1981–82 TV series, 1st Republic.

• Kim Seong-su
• Kim Ku
• Yun Posun
• Sin Ik-hui
• Chang Deok-soo

{{Notelist}}

• [http://www.goha.or.kr Goha Song Jinwoo Museum]
• [http://enc.daum.net/dic100/contents.do?query1=b12s2996a Song Jin-woo:Daum] {{in lang|ko}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20111008235911/http://koreandb.nate.com/history/people/detail?sn=5449 Song Jin-woo:Nate korean history] {{in lang|ko}}
• [http://people.aks.ac.kr/front/tabCon/ppl/pplView.aks?pplId=PPL_7HIL_A1890_1_0006092 Song Jin-woo] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930234412/http://people.aks.ac.kr/front/tabCon/ppl/pplView.aks?pplId=PPL_7HIL_A1890_1_0006092 |date=30 September 2011 }} {{in lang|ko}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Song, Jin-Woo}}

Category:1889 births

Category:1945 deaths

Category:Korean politicians

Category:Korean journalists

Category:Members of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea

Category:Assassinated Korean politicians

Category:Assassinated South Korean people

Category:People murdered in Korea

Category:South Korean anti-communists

Category:Korean educators

Category:People imprisoned on terrorism charges

Category:20th-century journalists

Category:Politicians assassinated in the 1940s

Category:Meiji University alumni

Category:Burials at Seoul National Cemetery

Category:White Shirts Society

Category:March First Movement people

Category:The Dong-A Ilbo people