[2] In 1925, Yi returned to Daegu and along with his brothers and joined the Uiyoldan, an association formed in response to Japanese repression of the Korean Independence Movement.

When members of the Uiyoldan bombed the Daegu branch of the Choseon Bank, Yi was among the arrested and spent 18 months in prison.

It is reported Yi's bloodstream was injected with saline solution in the prison hospital - which subsequently killed him.

[6] While Yi only wrote approximately forty poems, the fact that they have come to represent the resistance spirit of the Korean people against the Japanese colonial government has made his work famous in Korea.

Nevertheless, his meaning was clear to Koreans, and because of this and his lyricism, his work continues to be included in school textbooks in Korea.

"The Wide Plain" is perhaps the clearest example of Yi's ability to combine lyricism with anti-colonial sentiment: On a distant day, When heaven first opened, Somewhere a cock must have crowed.

Now snow falls, The fragrance of plum blossoms is far off, I’ll sow the seed of my sad song here.