Kim Ku

Kim Ku (Korean: 김구; August 29, 1876 – June 26, 1949), also known by his art name Paekpŏm, was a Korean politician. He was a leader of the Korean independence movement against the Empire of Japan, head of the Korean Provisional Government for multiple terms, and a Korean reunification activist after 1945. Kim is revered in South Korea, where he is widely considered one of the greatest figures in Korean history.

Kim was born into a poor farming family during the Joseon period. In Joseon's last century, it experienced several peasant rebellions and interventions from multiple global powers, including the Empire of Japan, the Russian Empire, Qing China, and the United States. Kim fought for Korean independence for most of his life, and was jailed, tortured, and permanently disfigured by Japanese authorities for his activities. He spent 26 years in exile in China, serving various roles in the Provisional Government and collaborating with the Republic of China. During this time, he founded and led the Korean Patriotic Organization and the Korean Liberation Army. He both planned and was the target of numerous assassination attempts, including an assassination attempt on Japanese Emperor Hirohito. After the 1945 surrender of Japan in World War II, Kim returned to the peninsula alongside the provisional government and tried to prevent the division of Korea.

However, in 1949, just four years after his return and just before the outbreak of the 1950 Korean War, Kim was assassinated by Korean Lieutenant Ahn Doo-hee.

While Kim is mostly celebrated in modern South Korea, he is not without his share of critics. In 1896, Kim murdered a Japanese man who he believed may have been connected to the Japanese military or even involved in the recent assassination of Empress Myeongseong. The man is generally agreed to be Tsuchida Josuke, a civilian merchant on a business trip. Kim was also involved in coordinating attacks against Japanese military and colonial government personnel. His legacy is somewhat less enthusiastically celebrated in North Korea, due to his anti-Communist views, although he softened these in order to reconcile with Kim Il Sung near the end of his life. However, in the South, these efforts at appeasing Kim Il Sung were criticized by contemporary and modern scholars.