independence fighter-remains return

▲ This photo, provided by the veterans ministry, shows independence activist Lee Ui-gyeong. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

independence fighter-remains return

Korean independence fighter's remains to return home after 105 years

SEOUL, Nov. 12 (Yonhap) -- The remains of Korean independence fighter Lee Ui-gyeong, known for the autobiographical fiction "The Yalu River Flows" that portrays life during Japan's 1910-45 colonization, will return home from Germany this week, 105 years after Lee left the nation, the veterans ministry said Tuesday.

Lee's remains are set to arrive at Incheon International Airport on Saturday, following a memorial and send-off ceremony held at Lee's grave site in the southern German municipality of Grafelfing, according to the ministry.

A burial ceremony will take place at Daejeon National Cemetery in Daejeon, 140 kilometers south of Seoul, on Sunday, it added.

Born in Haeju, in the modern day North Korean province of South Hwanghae, in 1899, Lee joined the independence movement but was later forced into exile in Shanghai in 1919.

In 1920, Lee traveled to Germany where he helped raise awareness on the independence movement and published "The Yalu River Flows," which was later carried in German school textbooks.

Lee died from stomach cancer in 1950.

South Korea has repatriated the remains of independence activists since 1946. Lee's remains will be the 149th to be repatriated, according to the ministry.

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