Ben C. Lyhm’s Independence Movement in America

Abstract

Ben C. Lyhm(Lyhm Beng Chik) studied in the United States in 1913 and returned home in 1949. Ben C. Lyhm's life met Syngman Rhee for the first time at the YMCA in Seoul, and he met him and went to the United States to study. In addition, after the Korean people declared independence in March 1919, Ben C. Lyhm followed Syngman Rhee in the Korean Commission to America and Europe for the Republic of Korea. Ben C. Lyhm went to Shanghai, China, with Syngman Rhee in December 1920, and assisted Syngman Rhee until the Korean Provisional Government issued an order to abolish the the Korean Commission to America and Europe in March 1925. And in December 1941, when the Japanese provoked war against the United States, Ben C. Lyhm went to Washington D.C. to help Syngman Rhee at the Korean Commission and conducted diplomatic activities with the United States. In September 1942, Syngman Rhee, chairman of the Korean Commission, appointed Ben C. Lyhm as a military attache and dispatched him to Los Angeles. As Lim performed his duties as a colonel for external activities, Americans called him ‘Colonel Ben’. Ben C. Lyhm supported Syngman Rhee from 1919 to the post-liberation and worked together in the independence movement. In fact, Ben C. Lyhm’s independence movement is a shadow of Rhee Syngman's independence movement because he was always with Ben C. Lyhm in the United States. Ben C. Lyhm can see his sincerity in doing his best in everything with the belief that his activities contribute to the independence of the nation. Ben C. Lyhm participated in the independence movement as Syngman Rhee's secretary after the March 1st Movement and spent his entire life in the Syngman Rhee government, serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador to the United Nations.