Mr. Sunshine was buried in Maspeth Queens NYC

In April 2023, Mr. Sunshine 미스터 션샤인, Hwang Ki-hwan returns to Korea from Maspeth, Queens, NYC. Hwang had been buried in Maspeth since 1923, having died alone in New York City.

Hwang Ki-hwan was born in 1886 in South Pyongan Province which is now located in North Korea. At the age of 18 he moved to the United States and would serve during WWI as a medic where he would rescue fallen soldiers on the front lines of the battle field.

After the war Hwang remained in Europe promoting and advocating for Korean Independence. Hwang’s contributions to the independence movement were posthumously recognized by South Korea. He was awarded the Order of Merit of National Foundation and Patriotism Award for his dedication and sacrifice in the pursuit of Korean independence.

Hwang's story was immortalized in the Korean historical drama, Mr. Sunshine, where Hwang was depicted as Eugene Choi, a Korean-born US military officer, who was played by actor Lee Byung-hun.

Hwang died alone in 1923 in New York City and he was buried in Maspeth, Queens. It wasn't until 2008 that a Korean-American pastor discovered his grave and the process to have him repatriated began a few years later.

It wasn't an easy process, and it is likely that his story in the series Mr. Sunshine helped to sway the courts in America that Hwang should be allowed to return home. He was given South Korean citizenship during his interment ceremony, something that he did not have being that he left Korea before 1912 when citizenships were granted to South Korean's. He was then buried in the national cemetery in Daejeon after having spent 100 years in Maspeth, Queens.

My apologies for any Korean pronunciation errors that I made in this video.