Lee, Byung-auk: He was a full-fledged financial supporter for Dr. Syngman Rhee.
He came to America in 1903 to work at Hawaii sugar plantation. He was teaching Korean language, English and arithmetic in an effort to eradicate illiteracy. He moved to the mainland in Imperial Valley for rice farming and later moved to Los Angeles. He was a devout follower of Syngman Rhee and his policy line particularly to U.S. Diplomacy Committee in Washington D.C. When Rhee founded Dong Ji Hoe, Lee was a founding member. In 1995, the South Ko- rean government posthumously recognized him with the Order of Merit of National Foundation / Patriotic People Award for his contribution to Korea’s independence movement.
