Even as Liberation Day marks its 81st anniversary, there are still over 7,000 cases where government medals cannot be presented because the descendants of independence activists cannot be located.
According to the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, there are 7,622 independence merit recipients who were awarded orders of merit for national foundation or presidential citations for their independence activities, but whose medals remain undelivered because their descendants have not been found.
Excluding about 3,000 individuals located in North Korea and around 1,400 whose registered domicile itself cannot be verified, about 40 percent of those with undelivered medals have registered domiciles in South Korea, yet tracking down their descendants remains difficult.
This is largely believed to be because many activists hid their identities during the independence movement, died for their country at a young age without leaving children, or because the facts of their independence activities were not properly passed down to their families.
Activists like Kim Su-min, who raised an army of volunteer soldiers in the Paju and Yeoncheon areas of Gyeonggi Province to resist Japanese imperialism and died for his country, was posthumously awarded the Order of Independence Merit for National Foundation in 1962, but his descendants have not been found, leaving his medal undelivered for 64 years.
Similarly, activist Ahn Gyeong-suk, who raised military funds for the volunteer army in Yangju and Pocheon and died for the country, was recognized for his independence contributions after about 118 years this year and was posthumously awarded the Order of Patriotic Merit for National Foundation, but neither his descendants nor the location of his grave has been verified.
To find the descendants of independence merit recipients with undelivered medals, the Ministry launched a descendant-finding project targeting overseas independence activists in 2007, and since 2018, it has been operating the Independence Merit Recipient Descendant Verification Committee composed of history and genealogy experts in accordance with relevant regulations.
It is also collaborating with local governments to directly exhibit undelivered medals and receive tips from descendants or related parties.
Through such activities, 770 medals were delivered to descendants over a period of four years and seven months from 2022 until last month.
However, as the descendants of independence merit recipients have already reached the third to fifth generations, and with many lacking evidentiary materials such as family relationship records, finding descendants is expected to become increasingly difficult over time.
Reported by Jung Da-eun | Video by Na Hong-hee | Graphics by Lee Jeong-ju | Produced by SBS Digital News
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