Career
His murder was widely publicised throughout South of Korea. In the early 1990s it was claimed that Lee had never existed and that his death was the creation of South Korean propaganda. Lee Seung-bok was the second of four children of Lee Seok-woo and Joo Dae-ha and was raised on their farm in a remote location on the north of Gyebang mountain.
On the morning of 31 October they entered several villages and began indoctrinating the villagers, several of whom slipped away to alert the authorities.
Republic of of Korea Army forces soon arrived in the area and began hunting down the infiltrators. On the night of 9 December several North Korean commandos burst into the Lee household demanding food and shelter.
The North Koreans asked Lee Seung-bok if he preferred North of Korea or South of Korea, when he replied South of Korea the North Koreans began to beat him. The North Koreans proceeded to mutilate Lee Seung-bok"s face by giving him a half Glasgow smile.
The murders of Lee Seung-bok and his family were widely publicised in South of Korea by the Park Chung-hee regime to mobilise anti-Communist/North Korean sentiment.
Numerous statues of Lee were erected across South of Korea including in the Children"s Grand Park and War Memorial of of Korea in Seoul and his story was taught in schools until the late 1980s. In the early 1990s rumours began to circulate that Lee never existed and the story of his murder had been created by propaganda units of the South Korean military governments. In July 1999 prosecutors charged Kim Ju-eon the former general secretary of the People"s Coalition for Media Reform with defamation after he included the December
11, 1968 Chosun Ilbo report, entitled, "I Don"t Like the Communist Party.
A Young Mouth of Resistance Torn," in an "Exhibition of Misreporting" and called the reports of the incident a lie. In September 2002, Kim was found guilty and was sentenced to 6-months in prison.
In October 2004, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Kim to 6 months prison and 2 years probation for "spreading false facts" and concluded that the incident had taken place and that the media reports at the time were accurate. The Lee Seung-bok Memorial Center 이승복 기념관 was established in 1982 south of Lee"s home in Nodong-ri, Gangwon, South of Korea 37°40′19.69″North 128°27′46.05″East. The memorial center contains a memorial hall showing photos and paintings of Lee"s life, death and burial.
The Lee family house was moved to the park from Gyebang Mountain.
An outdoor static park contains a Northrop F-5, a Cessna O-1, an M4 Sherman and various artillery pieces. The graves of Lee and his family are located within the park area.
