President visits Korean independence activist memorial in Mongolia

Ulaanbaatar — President Lee Jae Myung visited a memorial dedicated to Lee Tae-jun (1883-1921), a Korean independence activist who lived in Mongolia, Friday, on the 105th anniversary of his death.

The president paid tribute to the martyr, a physician who devoted himself to the movement for independence from Japan and is often dubbed as the "Schweitzer of Mongolia," during his three-day state visit to Mongolia through Saturday.

It was the first visit to the memorial by a Korean president since August 2011 and came a day after the leaders of the two counties signed a memorandum of understanding to preserve the site at their bilateral summit.

The president laid flowers at Lee Tae-jun's cenotaph in Ulaanbaatar and observed a moment of silence.

The wreath bore a ribbon reading, "105th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of Lee Tae-jun — President Lee Jae Myung of the Republic of Korea." Lee Tae-jun established a clinic in Mongolia during 1910-45 Japan's colonial rule, introducing modern medicine while supporting Korea's independence movement.

Touring the memorial's exhibition hall, the president ex ...