[Edaily Reporter KIM SAE-MI ] He contributed the money he earned from selling medicine to the cause of regaining the nation’s independence and provided the company he ran as a secret communication network for the independence movement. This is the story of Mr. Min Gang, the first president of DongwhaPharm(000020), Korea’s first pharmaceutical company. His entrepreneurial spirit, which began at Donghwa Pharmacy—founded in 1897—extended into the independence movement during the Japanese colonial period. It is a rare example of a company founder simultaneously leading both a business and the independence movement.

This year, marking the 81st anniversary of Korea’s liberation, Min Gang’s life is being revisited. In February, DongwhaPharm held a book launch ceremony at its headquarters in Sunhwa-dong, Seoul, to commemorate the publication of a biography of Min Gang, its first president and an independence activist. This event came after the company relocated its headquarters back to Sunhwa-dong—where DongwhaPharm first established its roots in 1897—and served to highlight the founder’s life as an entrepreneur, educator, and independence activist.

Min Gang co-founded DongwhaPharm with his father, Min Byeong-ho, and led the popularization of Hwalmyeongsu. Hwalmyeongsu, meaning “water that saves lives,” was a much-needed medicine for the common people of the time, who suffered from acute indigestion and digestive disorders. Min Byeong-ho, who had served as a royal court physician, developed the remedy by combining traditional herbal formulas used in the palace with Western medicine, and Min Gang laid the business foundation for making it available to the general public.

Min Gang’s vision extended beyond the pharmaceutical business. According to the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs’ Digital Archives of Meritorious Service, in 1909 he organized the secret society Daedong Youth Party with some 80 members, including Ahn Hee-je, Kim Hong-ryang, Shin Baek-woo, and Nam Hyung-woo, to campaign for the restoration of national sovereignty. After the nation’s sovereignty was stripped away, he established the So Medical School to promote national education. Later, he also participated in the establishment of pharmaceutical education institutions, contributing not only to the pharmaceutical industry but also to the cultivation of talent.

His independence activities took a more direct turn following the March 1st Movement of 1919. Min Gang participated in the “Manse” demonstrations while simultaneously pushing for the establishment of the Hanseong Provisional Government and the convening of a National Assembly. He took part in preparatory work, such as drafting the National Assembly’s manifesto and the provisional government’s provisional constitution, and used Donghwa Pharmacy—which he managed—as a liaison hub to raise funds. As a result, he was arrested by Japanese colonial police but released on bail in August of the same year.

He did not stop even after his release. Min Gang joined the DAEDONG CORPORATION, led by Jeon Hyeop and Choi Ik-hwan, and provided Donghwa Pharmacy as a liaison hub for both the DAEDONG CORPORATION and the Liaison Headquarters. While preparing for the “Long Live Independence” demonstrations, he was also involved in mobilizing student and youth groups in the Seoul area. When the plan was uncovered by the Japanese police, he was arrested again in November 1919 and, in March 1921, received a final sentence of one year and six months in prison from the Gyeongseong Appellate Court, which he served. He later moved to Shanghai, where he served as an academic affairs committee member for the Shanghai Korean Residents’ Association in 1924 before being arrested once more.

At the time, DongwhaPharm was ostensibly a company that manufactured and sold medicines, but internally, it served as a conduit linking the Provisional Government with independence movement forces inside Korea. It was used as a base for the Seoul Liaison Bureau, which the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea operated to facilitate communication both domestically and internationally, and Min Gang took on the responsibility of managing communications and gathering intelligence. To commemorate this, the Seoul Metropolitan Government erected a monument to the Seoul Liaison Bureau in 1995 at the site where DongwhaPharm was founded.

Hwalmyeongsu was also closely tied to the independence movement. According to DongwhaPharm, a portion of the proceeds from Hwalmyeongsu sales was used to fund the independence movement and was delivered to the Provisional Government. In the 1910s, a bottle of Hwalmyeongsu cost 50 jeon—expensive enough to buy two bowls of seolleongtang at the time. There is also an anecdote that independence activists took Hwalmyeongsu with them when they traveled to China and sold it there to raise funds for their activities. In a sense, a medicine created to save human lives served as a lifeline for the struggle to reclaim the nation.

Min Gang ultimately passed away in 1931 without living to see Korea’s independence. Recognizing his contributions, the government posthumously awarded him the Order of National Foundation, Medal of Independence, in 1963. The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs has officially recognized Min Gang’s contributions to the independence movement, including his provision of Donghwa Pharmacy as a liaison base, his fundraising activities, and his continued involvement in the independence movement with the DAEDONG CORPORATION in Shanghai.

The anti-Japanese spirit Min Gang left behind continued even after a change in leadership. Yoon Chang-sik, the fifth president of Donghwa Pharmacy who took the helm in 1937, had been active in the Joseon Industrial Promotion Association in 1915 with the goal of restoring national sovereignty through economic self-reliance. He later supported the Borin Association, which carried out relief work for the poor, and contributed funds to the Shin Ganhoe, a national cooperative front. In this sense, he was both the executive who laid the foundation for DongwhaPharm’s modernization and a figure who put the principle of national economic self-reliance into practice.

Honorary Chairman Yoon Gwang-yeol, who served as the seventh president, continued this legacy. While attending Boseong Technical College, he traveled to China to join the Korean Liberation Army and, in 1945, served as commander of the 5th Company of the Korean Liberation Army’s Juhu Brigade. After liberation, he joined Donghwa Pharmacy in 1949 and later went on to lead the company. Although the leadership changed from Min Gang to Yoon Chang-sik and then to Yoon Kwang-yeol, the spirit of the independence movement and the national enterprise was carried on across these three business leaders.

DongwhaPharm published a biography of Min Gang this year, describing him as “an entrepreneur, educator, and independence activist who fought fiercely to preserve our nation’s identity amid the crisis of the Japanese colonial era, when our national sovereignty was usurped.” A chapter in the history of Korea’s oldest pharmaceutical company, which has been in operation for 129 years, features business leaders who went beyond simply saving lives with medicine to dedicate the company’s assets and organization to the cause of regaining national sovereignty. This is why DongwhaPharm’s history—which began with “Hwalmyeongsu,” the “water that saves lives”—is widely regarded as having the DNA of the independence movement deeply ingrained in it.

◇Biography of Min Gang, First President of Donghwa Pharmacy
△Born in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, in 1883
△1897: First President of Donghwa Pharmacy
△ 1907: Co-founded the So Medical School
△ 1909: Organized the secret society Daedong Youth Party and participated in the movement to restore national sovereignty
△1919: Established the Hanseong Provisional Government; engaged in preparatory activities for the National Assembly
△1919: Joined the Daedongdan; provided Donghwa Pharmacy as a liaison base for the Daedongdan and the Yeon-tong Headquarters
△1919: Served as head of the Seoul Liaison Bureau
△1921: Sentence of 1 year and 6 months’ imprisonment confirmed by the Gyeongseong High Court
△1924: Served as an education committee member for the Shanghai Korean Residents’ Association Medical Society
△Died in 1931
△1963: Posthumously awarded the Order of National Foundation, Independence Medal