Gye signed up for independence movement against Japan, and took the lead in the nation’s reunification and democratization. Gye lived in Banghak-dong 612-30.
Gye Hun-je (1921-1999) was born in Seoncheon, Pyeonganbuk-do. During the Pacific War, he was on the list of Korean students of Gyeongseong Imperial University (present-day Seoul National University) who were to be conscripted into the Japanese Army. He refused the order to join the Japanese Army and engaged in the struggle against Imperial Japan. After the country’s liberation, he returned to what had by then become Seoul National University and was elected as the head of the Students Association. He led the movement against the UN’s plan for trusteeship of Korea and supported Kim Koo’s participation in the negotiations with the North for a single government on the Korean Peninsula. In the 1960s and 1970s, he served as the editor-in-chief of Sasanggye (a magazine for intellectuals) and as the editor of Ssial-eui-sori (a monthly magazine). Following the military coupd’etat in 1961, he started the democratization movement. He played an active part in the struggle against meetings with Japan, the government’s decision to dispatch troops to Vietnam, and the Yusin (Revitalizing Reform) regime. He continued with his anti-government activities against the neo-military coup group (Singunbu) led by Chun Doo-hwan. He was jailed several times, and suffered from a lung disease brought about by the torture inflicted upon him in jail. He was a spiritual leader of the democratization movement in the 1970s and 1980s. People still remember him as a man who always dressed in shabby clothes and rubber shoes. He lived in Banghak-dong from 1990 until his death in 1999. In 2002, he was posthumously recognized for his work on behalf of the democratization movement.