Paik, Earl-ku: He guided the Korean independence as a second-in-command at the Korean National Association.
Paik, Earl-ku was a second-in-command at Korean National Association. When Dosan Ahn Chang Ho left for Shanghai in April of 1919, Earl took the lead the Korean independence in America, Hawaii and Mexico. He generated petitions and forwarded them to the President of the United States, France, and Italy including the acting Secretary of State on the need of Korean national independence. He also guided the rejection of Japanese currency and promoted Korean census registration and exerted a tremendous effort to raise independence funds for the Provisional Government in Shanghai: The raised amount was $80,000. Paik arrived at a Hawaiian sugar plantation in 1905. He graduated from Nebraska’s Hastings high school and Nebraska University in 1913. He joined Hung Sa Dahn on August 15, 1914. His badge # 52. He became an editor-in-chief for Shin Han Min Bo, which was a merger of Gong Lip Shin Bo and Daedong Gongbo in 1914 and wrote anti-Japanese articles in the paper. During the trial of Jeon, Myeong-woon and Jang, In- hwan, Earl was in charge and worked hard to raise defense funds for them. He graduated UC-Berkeley with a BA in economics.. In 1920, Earl published “The History of Korean Economics” and the book was used to educate Korean children as part of Korean national education. Earl served the president of the Korean National Association for the next nine years in North America. Paik has a son Seung Jak. Dr. Suh, Dae Sook, formerly Director of East-West Center in Hawaii, translated Earl’s autobiography into English. Earl passed away on May 31, 1962. He was buried in Rosedale cemetery in Los Angeles. In September, 2002, the Korean government repatriated his remains to Dae Jeon National Cemetery. In 1997, the South Korean government posthumously recognized him with the Order of Merit of the National Foundation / Independence Award for his unwavering contribution and sacrifice for the Korean independence movement.
