Righteous Army Command

Their military foundation was based on the former Righteous Army fighters who escaped to Manchuria after failing to retake Seoul from the Japanese Empire.

In one period, according to Japanese records in Boto Tobatsu-shi (Annals of the Subjugation of the Insurgent), between October 1907 and April 1908, over 1,908 attacks were made by the Korean people against the invaders.

Still, in 1919, stimulated by the March 1st Movement, Lee Beom-yun, Jin Hak-shin, Choi Woo-ik, and others formed the Righteous Army Command in Myeongwol-gu, Yanji County using the Yonghwi era name.

However, thanks to the persuasion of anti-Japanese independence activists such as Nam Gong-seon and Ahn Chang-ho, the union was approved at a meeting in July 1920.

[1] They launched an effective operation in alliance with the Northern Military Administration Office to fight against Japan and crush reactionary forces.

However, they were greatly restricted by the attacks of the Japanese military and police and the invasion of the Fengtian Clique, so they mainly focused on night time operations.

[1] In August 1920, due to an attack by the Chinese army, instructed by the Japanese police, about 150 members of the Gamsam Corps under the command of Go Pyeong inevitably fought, resulting in heavy losses on both sides.

About 40 people, including Chief of Staff Park Jae-nul and Company Commander Kim Do-sam, retreated from Bongjeon-dong, Uiran-gu to Sobaekcho-gu, Wangcheong-hyeon.

After surviving the Free City Incident and all Korean armed units based in Siberia being forcibly disarmed by the Soviet Union, the anti-Japanese independence struggle in Primorsky Krai became difficult.

Jeon Deok-won was a former military commander under Choe Ik-hyeon and played an active role as an executive of the Korean Independence Corps, while Yang Gi-tak was a leading figure of the Patriotic Enlightenment Movement and developed a unification movement for the independence army groups in southern Manchuria after coming to Manchuria at the end of 1920.

The difference in personality between the two people and the relative weakening trend of monarchism faction that emerged with the formation of Korean Unification Government soon led to their downfall.

That is, on October 14, 1922, an incident occurred in which about 20 volunteer soldiers affiliated with Jeon Deok-won attacked Yang Gi-tak and his party in Gwanjeon-hyeon.

[2] In January 1923, Jeon Deok-won, Chae Sang-deok, Kim Pyeong- sik, Oh Seok -yeong, Park Dae-ho, and other members of the monarchist faction withdrew from the Korean Unification Government and reformed the Righteous Army Command as the Korean Righteous Army Command (Daehanuigunbu (大韓義軍府) in Daehwang-gu, Hwanin-hyeon.

The organization was divided into a headquarters which was based in Myeongwol-gu, Yanji County, Manchuria, and a central division, and the area of activity was expanded to Hwaryong, Wangcheong, and Honchun where Donations from Korean residents funded it.

[1] Around February 1923, the Righteous Army Command organized by military and civilian representatives in Hwanin-hyeon, Manchuria, with the purpose of destroying domestic Japanese institutions.

The military branch headquarters is based in a remote location, Buk-gu, Yeonhwa-dong, Wangwu-gu, Uiran-hyang, Yanji County, Goseongchon.

Righteous army of Jeongmi (1907)
Location of the Righteous Army Command