page_title: Park Yong-man
section_title: Return to Asia
hierarchical_section_title: Park Yong-man / Return to Asia
caption_attribution_description: English: Bak Yong-man in military uniforms, 1910 한국어: 1910년 네브라스카 헤스팅스 한국소년병 학교 시절 군복차림의 박용만
context_page_description: Park Yong-man; was a Korean nationalist and independence activist who, after spending time in prison for reformist activities, immigrated to the United States of America. There Park was involved in the establishment of various Korean nationalist organizations in Denver, Nebraska and Hawaii. Park also founded the Korean Military Corps. Following the March 1st movement in 1919, Park became involved with the military training of Korean nationalists in China, but may have also engaged in anti-communist activity. Park was assassinated in Beijing by a Korean communist.
context_section_description: The American Expeditionary Force had been dispatched to Siberia in 1918 to assist the Czechoslovak Legions in their retreat from the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War.  Japanese forces were also present in the region, nominally to assist in fighting the Bolsheviks, but also as part of a process to expand their influence in North East Asia.  Consequently, Park appears to have considered his sojourn to Siberia as an ideal start to combating Japanese colonialism. His role with the American Expeditionary Force was as an intelligence officer, and it is likely that he collected information on the communist Koreans present in Siberia at the time.
  In the interim, three separate Provisional Governments of Korea (PGK) had been established, one each in Seoul, Vladivistok and Shanghai.  By September 1919, these had merged into a single government in Shanghai, with Syngman Rhee (in absentia) appointed as president. Park was offered the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Provisional Government.  Park, having finished his duties with the American Expeditionary Force, arrived in Shanghai in March 1920. However, it seems that Park was only part of the PGK for a few months, if at all.  It is possible that the selection of Syngman Rhee as head of the PKG was a factor in deterring Park from playing a more significant role with the organisation.
  Park was also involved with negotiations to form a secret mutual defense pact between the newly established PGK and the Soviets.  Park was now based in Manchuria, spending time training recruits and preparing for a military campaign against Japan.  Little is known about his activities in Manchuria, but he returned to Korea at least once, in 1924, with a group of military and business leaders of the pro-Japanese Chinese government.  Park, now under suspicion of collaborating with the Japanese against communism due to his activities in Siberia and Manchuria, was assassinated in Beijing on 17 October 1928 by a Korean communist, Lee Hae-young.
caption: Park Yong-man in military uniform
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