The true identity and face of the Hungarian man known as “Magyar,” who famously supported the Korean independence movement during the colonial era ...
A travel passport issued in 1922 to Gábor Magyar for use within China. / Courtesy of Professor Mózes Csoma The true identity and face of the Hungarian man known as “Magyar,” who famously supported the Korean independence movement during the colonial era as a bomb-making expert in the 1920s, have finally been confirmed.
Though he contributed to the cause, his unclear identity and activities had long prevented him from receiving proper recognition, but now a situation is poised for reevaluation. According to the academic paper titled “Hungarian Man Among the Korean Freedom Fighters,” obtained by the Kyunghyang Shinmun on May 29 through Professor Kim Tae-woong of Seoul National University’s Department of History Education, the man referred to in Korean academia simply as “Magyar” has been identified as Gábor Magyar. The paper was recently published on the “Orient Project,” a Hungary-Asia historical relations platform, by Professor Mózes Csoma, head of Korean Studies at Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Budapest and former Hungarian ambassador to Korea between 2018 and 2022. Magyar drew attention when he was revealed to be the real-life inspiration for the Hungarian anarchist character “Rubic” in the Korean film “The Age of Shadows” released in 2016. Known for his exceptional skills in bomb-making, Magyar reportedly helped smuggle more than 300 bombs into Korea. One of these, it is believed, was used by independence fighter Kim Sang-ok in a bombing attack on the Jongno Police Station in January 1923. Despite his involvement, neither his face nor his name had ever been definitively identified. The name “Magyar” was used simply because he was Hungarian , though there had even been speculation that he might have been German or Irish. Magyar is said to have joined the Korean independence struggle after meeting Korean activist Lee Tae-joon in Mongolia, following his capture as a Russian prisoner of war during World War I. According to the paper, Magyar was born in 1896 in Selmecbánya, which is modern-day Slovakia, and his full name was Gábor József Magyar. It is presumed he acquired his bomb-making skills through technical education. Exactly how he ended up in Mongolia remains uncertain. In a paper published in 2019, curator Yang Ji-sun of the National Memorial of the Korean Provisional Government said that hundreds of thousands of Hungarian prisoners of war taken by Russia during World War I were relocated to Siberia, Mongolia, the Russian Far East, and Manchuria after the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917. Magyar may have been among them. Professor Csoma’s research, however, has yet to find definitive evidence that Magyar was a prisoner of war. Still, his sister Zsófia reportedly stated during a police investigation in 1931 that her brother had been captured as a Russian prisoner during World War I and later worked as a mechanic in several factories in Shanghai. There is now also a clue as to how Lee Tae-joon came to know Magyar. According to the paper, between December 1920 and February 1921, Hungarian prisoners operated a bomb-making facility in Urga , then the capital of Mongolia. Professor Csoma speculates that Chinese military officers witnessed test explosions at the site, and it was likely there that Lee encountered Magyar. Magyar’s life after Korea’s liberation remains unclear. According to the paper, Kim Won-bong, who defected to North Korea in 1948, visited Hungary in 1955 as part of a North Korean delegation, but there is no record of him mentioning Magyar during the visit. 문화 많이 본 기사 As of November 2024, only 76 non-Korean nationals, excluding overseas Koreans, are among the 18,162 recognized independence patriots by the Korean government. Magyar is not one of them. In a recent email to Professor Kim, Professor Csoma wrote, “Through years of research in the archives of the Hungarian foreign and defense ministries, we have finally identified Magyar. It was not an easy process, given that he lived over a century ago, but I’m pleased we were able to uncover both his identity and his activities.” ※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool. 한글기사 원본
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