The remains of a Korean independence fighter who had been buried in New York are on their way home from the United States, the veterans ministry said Sunday.
According to the ministry, the remains of Hwang Ki-hwan, who had been laid to rest at Mount Olivet Cemetery in New York, are scheduled to arrive at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, at 9 a.m. Monday.
Veterans Minister Park Min-shik will receive the remains at the airport, the ministry said.
Following a repatriation ceremony, the ministry will then inter Hwang's remains at Daejeon National Cemetery in Daejeon, 140 kilometers south of Seoul.
Born in Sunchon, South Pyongan Province, now in North Korea, in 1886, Hwang moved to the United States in 1904 and volunteered to fight for the US during World War I.
After the war, he supported Korean representatives at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 and took part in the independence movement against Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule.
He died of heart disease in New York in 1923. April 17 marks the centennial anniversary of his passing.
The ministry had sought for the remains' return for a decade, but the New York cemetery demanded a local court's approval due to the absence of Hwang's family members.
The cemetery finally reached an agreement on the remains' relocation in January after persuasion from the ministry and South Korea's Consulate General in New York, according to the ministry.
The popular 2018 TV series "Mr. Sunshine" featured a protagonist inspired by Hwang. (Yonhap)
