Han Yong-un was a fierce fighter against Japanese imperialism who joined the Thirty-three National Representatives of Korea to play a leading role in the Declaration of Korean Independence on March 1, 1919. Also a great Buddhist thinker and poet, he propagated the reform of Korean Buddhism through such publications as Bulgyo yusillon (On the Revitalization of Korean Buddhism), and left a great collection of philosophical and political poems titled Nimui chimmuk (The Silence of Love).