Oesol Choe Hyeon-bae Birthplace Site

This is the birthplace site of the Hangeul scholar Choe Hyeon-bae, pen name Oesol (1894–1970). The original house no longer survives, but it was restored in 2008 and remains as such today. Choe was born here and graduated from Byeongyeong Elementary School; in 1910 he moved to Seoul and entered Hanseong High School, later renamed Gyeongseong Higher Common School. At this time he attended the Korean Language Institute run by Ju Si-gyeong (1876–1914), where he came to realise that protecting and teaching the Korean language and script was the path to national liberation, and resolved to devote his life to this cause. He went on to study in the humanities faculty of Hiroshima Higher Normal School in Japan, and in April 1922 entered Kyoto Imperial University, where he majored in education. In April 1926 he became a professor at Yonhui College, now Yonsei University, and remained there until he was dismissed in September 1938 in connection with the Heungeop Club Incident. In May 1941 he returned to Yonhui College as a library staff member, but resigned that October when the Korean Language Society Incident occurred, and endured four years of imprisonment until liberation in 1945. After liberation he served as a compiler at the Ministry of Education, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, chairman of the Hangeul Society, chief director of the King Sejong the Great Memorial Society, and vice-president of Yonsei University, devoting himself to reviving the spirit of love for the nation and the soul of the Korean people. When he died in March 1970, he was posthumously awarded the Order of Civil Merit, Mugunghwa Medal. His writings include The Way to Regenerate the Korean People, Urimalbon (Korean Grammar), The Right Path of Hangeul, Hangeulgal, The Struggle for Hangeul, Advanced Grammar, Intermediate Grammar, and The Way to Love the Nation.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Jung-gu, Ulsan

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물