In response to the Gando attacks that led to the Japanese military's great battles and massacres, it passed to Russian territory in late 1920s.

At the end of November, the White Guards of Mozanov, stationed south of the Ussuri Railway Bridge, flew over the neutral zone to occupy Khabarovsk, fought over the Neutral Zone, fought with the Korean Revolutionary Army and cooperated with the People's Revolutionary Army of the Far Eastern Republic.

In May, as a member of the Communist Party's Yanbian Special District, he participated in the 'Gando May 30 Uprising' and subsequent anti-Japanese peasant movements, trying to form the Red Guard and Self-Defense Forces.

In November of that year, he was arrested by the Japanese police at Joyangcheon and served in the Seodaemun Prison and was subject to residence restrictions in Bukcheong.

In November 1944, he formed the Northeast People's Liberation and Politics Committee in Changchun and participated in reconnaissance activities against Japanese military facilities.

Following the formal proclamation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, he was appointed as the first Minister of Urban Management [ko] in the North Korean Cabinet led by Premier Kim Il Sung.

Yi Yong passed away on August 18, 1954, was awarded the National Reunification Prize in 1990, and is currently buried in the Patriotic Martyrs' Cemetery.