He was an independence activist at the end of the Korean Peninsula and worked hard to foster human resources by establishing Samheung School. On October 26, 1909, he disguised himself as a Japanese and infiltrated Harbin Station and killed Ito Hirobumi, the main culprit of Korean invasion, on the station platform.
On March 26, 1910, he died in Lushun Prison and was posthumously awarded the Order of Merit for National Foundation in 1962.