Byun, Joon-ho: He staged an anti-Japanese struggle through his socialist state movement.

Byun was a progressive journalist and he fought an independence fight as a socialist revolutionary. He came to America by way of Nanjing, China in 1917. He studied agriculture at Wesleyan University in Illinois. In 1930, he established a Social Science Institute in Chicago and in their manifesto, he declared he will be in sync with the outcries of the world proletariats in the fight of the sorrow of the weaker people. Fierce protests and suppression  came from the conservative organizations against him, he was finally expelled from the Korean National Association. In 1920, he joined Hung Sa Dahn with his badge #102. Since he unusually intensified his doctrine in the Shinhan Minbo, Hung Sa Dahn kicked him out. However, this socialist group was disbanded by the United States. He died in 1966. He had a son Hong Chul with his wife Park Maria. In 1997, the South Korean government posthu mously recognized him with the Order of Merit of the National Foundation / Patriotism Award for his service for Korean independence movement by participating in NAPKO Project with OSS (Office of Strategic Service.)

▲ Staging a demonstration to protest the export of scrap metal to Japan at Long Beach(1939)(USC Collection)