President Lee Jae Myung has congratulated the nation’s oldest independence patriot on his 104th birthday, sending a gift and a telegram to mark the occasion.

In a social media posting on Saturday, the president thanked the independence fighter, Lee Ha-jeon, for dedicating his life to the country’s independence, freedom and peaceful unification.

The president said Lee Ha-jeon formed a secret pro-independence organization in 1938, served a prison term as a student in Japan, and relocated to the United States after Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule.

Upon settling in the U.S., where he lives now, the patriot served in the Young Korean Academy and the Heritage of Korean Independence.

The president promised to forever remember, record and defend the proud history of the country’s patriots and their struggle for independence, and to seek ways to ensure that they live the rest of their lives in comfort.