He was born with the name Youngpil (영필; 永弼) but adopted the name Chin-san and the art name Okgye (옥계; 玉溪) later in life.

Yu Chin-san was born into a poor farming family in Geumsan county on 18 October 1905.

After graduating from Bosung High School in 1923, he studied at Waseda University in Japan, but dropped out in his third year to return to work for agricultural organizations in Korea.

[1] In 1933, Yu left Korea for Shanghai and was appointed as a liaison to the Korean Provisional Government (KPG).

Despite the challenges, he managed to escape to the Manchuria region of Northeast China as a liaison for the Provisional Government of Korea.