Kim Gu was born on August 29, 1976 at Pah-san-dong, Oh-dam-ri, Hwang-hae-do. His father was Kim Soon Young and his mother was Kwak Nak Won. He studied the Chinese classics and military arts.
In 1893, 18-year old Kim Gu joined the Tong-hak movement. In 1894, his Tong-hak army attacked the Haeju fort but the attack failed. Gen. Ahn Tae Hoon (father of Ahn Joon Gun) of the royal troops gave the Tonghak rebels a safe pass, but other troops attacked them. Kim Gu esacped and went into hiding.
In 1895, Kim Gu joined the Righteous Army of Kim Yi Uhn and attacked the Kangge fort. They failed to take the fort. The following year, Kim Gu killed Japanese army Lt. Su-chi-da, who killed the Korean Queen. He was caught and tortured at the Haeju prison. He was sentenced to death and about to be hanged when the King commuted his sentence.
In March 1898, Kim Gu escaped from prison. He roamed the country for awhile and became a Buddhist monk. In 1900, he left the monastery and became a teacher using a fake name. In 1903, Kim Gu became a Christian after his fiancée died. He founded Bong-yang Institute and pushed for progressive literature and nationalism among the youth. In 1904, he married Choe Joon Rae.
In 1908, he and 104 other patriots (including Ahn Chang Ho) formed the New People's Society, which worked to counter Japanese intrusion. On October 26, he was arrested by the Japanese military police for his role in the assassination of Ito Hirobumi by Ahn Joon Gun. He was released and linked up Lee Jae Myong and Roh Baik Lin who killed traitor Lee Wan Yong.
In January 1911, he was again arrested and tortured. He was given a 17-year prison term and incarcerated in the Suh-dae-moon prison, Seoul. In 1914, he was mercy-released upon his daughter's death in July. He founded a grade school and became a teacher again.
After the March First movement of 1919, he escaped to Shanghai, China. He became the security chief of the Korean Provisional Government. In June 1923, 48-year old Kim became the prime minister of the Provisional Government. His wife died the following year. In 1926, he became the President of the Provisional Government. In 1930, he was reelected President and founded the Korean Independence Party.
In 1931, he formed a covert operations unit, Yiyol-dang, whose primary mission was to assassinate Japanese officials and Korean collaborators. In January 1932, he sent Lee Bong Chang to Tokyo to kill the Japanese Emperor. Lee threw a grenade at the emperor's car but failed to harm him. In April, he had Yun Bong Gil bomb the crowd celebrating the Emperor's birthday at Shanghai's Hong Gu Park.
In 1933, Kim Gu met with Chiang Kaisek in Nanking. Chiang agreed to allow Korean cadets into the Chinese Military Academy. In 1935, he formed the Korean National Party with Lee Dong Young and Lee Si Young.
In 1937, he formed the Korean Indepenence United Front. In 1938, he survived an assassination attempt by Lee Woon Han at a joint conference of Korean National Party, Korean Revolutionary Party and Korean Independence Party. In 1939, he moved to Chungking. In the following year, he was elected the President of the Provisional Government and formed the Korean Independence Army. Lee Chung Chun was appointed the Supreme Commander and Lee Bom Suk the Chief of Staff.
In 1941, his government declared war on Japan. In 1942, he formally asked China, the US and Britain to recognize his government. In 1943, he formed a special forces unit of the Independence Army in conjunction with a US OSS detachment in China.
On November 23, 1945, he was finally allowed by the US military to return to Korea. The US military refused to recognize Kim Gu's government and he was treated as a private returnee. Kim Gu proclaimed upon his return -- "We will have to discharge all officials appointed by the interpreters of the US Military Government. After August 14, 1945 all pro-Japanese and national traitors under the Japanese first went i nto hiding.. And later come out to buy off the interpreters so that they would get positions in the provincial governments, the district government and the police. We must clean out all these people, and at the same time stop this spirit of dependence on foreign countries."
On Feb. 14, 1946, Kim Ku joined Rhee's RDC (Representative Democratic Council) and blocked Yo Ung Hyon and his "communists" from forming a pan-national alliance. Yo then formed the Democratic National Front to oppose Rhee and Kim Ku. The Front was suppo rted by Park Hyong Yong's Communist Party, the leftist faction of the KPG led by Gen. Kim Won Bong (famed for his anti-Japanese covert ops in China and went over to the Kim Il Sung camp in 1948), the Yenan communists, and Yo's followers.
On March 5, 1946, Kim met with the US military governor Gen. Brown and asked for an immediate self rule. He and Rhee jointly announced non-partisan stance. On May 1, he suffered a heart attack and was hospitalized. He received the remains of the Korean martyrs Yun Bong Gil, Lee Bong Chang and Paik Chung Gi from Japan. He agreed to a left-right cooperation with Rhee Syngman and US. Gen. Hodge.
In 1947, he formed the right-wing Anti-Trusteeship Committee. He publicly breaks with Rhee's move to establish a separate state in South Korea. On February 25, he and Kim Gyu Sik proposed a joint meeting with Kim Il Sung and Kim Du Bong. He stated that he along with Kim Gyu Sik, Kim Chang Sook, Cho So Ang and other nationalist would not participate in the UN-sponsored election in South Korea.
On July 18, 1947, Yo Ung Hyon was assassinated by Kim Ku's forces. Yo is about the only pre-liberation nationalist who is respected in both halves of Korea today.
On March 10, 1948 - US CIA reported: "The Korean leadership is provided by that numerically small class which virtually monopolizes the native wealth and education of the country... Since this class could not have acquired and maintained its favored posit ion under Japanese rule without a certain minimum of collaboration, it has experienced difficulty in finding acceptable candidates for political office and has been forced to support imported expatriate politicians such as Syngman Rhee and Kim Ku. These, while they have no pro-Japanese taint, are essentially demagogues bent on autocratic rule."
On April 20, 1948, Kim Gu met with Kim Il Sung and ironed out concrete steps to prevent permanent division of Korea. He and Kim Gyu Sik returned to Seoul and made public their pact with Kim Il Sung on May 5.
On August 26, 1949, Kim Gu was shot and killed by Ahn Du Whi on Rhee Syngman's order. He was given a state funeral on July 5. Ahn was sentenced to life in prison for his crime in 1949 but he was quietly released less than a year later. He assumed a false name and lived a "normal" life until his death on October 22, 1996.
Ahn was beaten to death by an assassin with a wooden club inscribed ``justice stick.'' Rhee Syngman's government claimed that Ahn, a disciple of Kim Ku, acted alone, but Ahn later confessed that he was ordered to kill Kum Ku by Rhee's secret police chief. Ahn was 79 and all of his five children live in the United States. His common-law wife was not harmed.