Visit to Bongodong, Independence Army Base
  • Just across the Tumen River, where the battle site still remains, is Bongodong.
    Bongodong, Independence Army Base in North Gando, is about 10km away from the Tumen River and is adjacent to Domun, a riverside city connected by a bridge to Onseong, North Hamgyong Province.
    It was not somewhere in the desolate fields of Manchuria, but a place where young people who wanted to become independence fighters could meet just by crossing the Tumen River.

    Seo Gi-hak (the real name of Seo Il, president of Bukrogunjeongseo), from Gyeongseong, North Hamgyeong Province, was also guided to Bongodong in 1911 When the two families crossed the Tuman River with his friend Hyeon Cheon-muk.
    With the consideration of General Choi Woonnsan, he stayed in Seodaepa, the property owned by General Choi Woonsan.
    There, he promoted Daejonggyo and taught patriotic young people.
    In 1919, together with General Choi Woon-san, he established the Bukrogunjeongseo.
    This can be understood more clearly by looking at a real map.
    Here is Bongodong as seen on Google Maps.
  • Around Bongodong, there are Domun, Seokhyeon, Seodaepa (Bukrogunjeongseo), Sipripyeong and Yangshucheonja were owned by General Choi Woonsan.
    <The areas marked with place names are all owned by General Choi Woon-san, and the distance in a straight line alone is several tens of kilometers.>
  • Seokhyeon, which is close to Bongodong, was sold for 50,000 won at a sudden sale in January 1920 to raise funds for purchasing weapons of the Czech army.
    A large paper company was built on this land, occupying two-thirds of the Seokhyeon area, and most of Seokhyeon's residents worked as employees at the paper factory.
    The grandsons and granddaughters of Choi Chi-heung, younger brother of General Choi Woon-san, who now lives in Korea, also worked in this factory.
    At the time, they said they did not know the history of General Choi Chi-heung's independence struggle or that the site of the paper company they worked for was sold by his great-grandfather, Choi Woon-san, to raise funds for the military.
    Now, Although the operation of the paper mill has now stopped, the company building still remains.
    <Photo taken at the front door of the company>
    <At the entrance door on the side of the paper mill that's not in use now>
  • 봉Sunamchon Village in Bongodong is a Korean-Chinese village at the entrance of Bongodong.
    In 1980, a large dam was built by blocking the entrance to Bongodong, and all the residents of the three villages, Sangchon, Jungchon, and Hachon, where the residents of Bongodong originally lived, were scattered. 
  • The main gate of the dam is built at the entrance to Bongodong.
    Walking further inside, there is a victory monument for the Battle of Bongodong.
    Going up past the monument, there is a large dam.
    <I entered Bongo-dong and saw the upper part of the dam from the beginning of the reservoir, so I couldn't see it well because of the distance>
  • After the construction of this dam, this area became a restricted zone for civilians to protect the water resources.
    The battlefields and the village of Bongodong have long been devoid of the footsteps of the residents.
  • Since the construction of this dam in 1980 until the descendants of General Choi Woon-san visited Bongodong in 2015 to verify the actual battlefield with their own eyes, it was mistakenly believed that the sites of the Bongodong Independence War was submerged beneath the dam.
    The fact that the village near the entrance was submerged when the dam was built was distorted as saying that all the scenes of the independence war in Bongodong were submerged.
  • The Bongodong Independence Army base was composed of Sangchon, Jungchon, and Hachon.
    <In fact, the battle site of the Bongo-dong Independence War is Sangchon, Bongo-dong.>
  • The battlefield of the Bongodong Battle is located approximately 10 kilometers further into the forest from the dam at the entrance of Bongodong.
    If you drive about 20 minutes from the monument, you'll reach Jungchon, where the headquarters of the Daehan Gunmudodokbu was located, and a large Saturn was built around this headquarters.
    By using Google Maps, you can find the site of a large military training ground and barracks built by General Choi Woon-san in 1915 by clearing the Bongodong forest.
    <Actual size as shown by Google Maps>
  • In 2016, descendants of General Choi Woon-san and historians explored the site of the Battle of Bongodong.
    The trenches dug by the Independence Army 100 years ago remained intact in Mount Bongodong.
    <Trenches dug along the mountain terrain, fallen leaves piled up over the course of 100 years, and rotten black soil fills the trenches, and leaves continue to pile up on top of them.>
    <There is a trench overlooking the mountain path from the trench dug by the independence army during the field trip. Although it was full of fallen leaves, I dipped my feet into the trenches and became the heart of the Independence Army.>
    <Depending on the topography of the mountain, the shape of the trench may be long, short, or curved.>
    <Bongodong chamoh video>