Lee Hyo-jeong was born in 1913 in
Bonghwa County. Her father died when she was one and for a time she was in Bongcheon, Manchuria. She came from an anti-Japanese family and she returned to be home-schooled by her grandfather. She was a keen and attentive pupil. Her fifth cousin was the Korean nationalist and language expert
Lee Byeong-gi and he gave her lessons. Influenced by the
Gwangju Student Movement in 1929, she participated in protests on campus and a strike in 1931 where students agreed to submit blank answer sheets in exams. Some students who did not comply alleged that the blank sheets were due to ignorance, but the existence of Park Jin-hong, the star student's empty sheet proved that they were wilfully misbehaving. Hundreds of students were suspended and Park Jin-hong was expelled in June 1931. The bad feeling in the school gathered more support including teachers and governors. Eventually all the students were taken back, but Park Jin-hong remained expelled. Lee Hyo-jeong went on to teach at Ulsan Primary School and she continue to agitate. She had to leave that job because of her history of anti-Japanese views. She was involved in labour disputes and she went to prison for her activities on 1934. In 1935 she was back in her former school distributing anti-Japanese leaflets. After Japan surrendered at the end of the second world war, Korea became independent but it did not welcome socialists. Her husband, Park Du-Bok, was a well known socialist and she was tortured. She decided to keep a low profile. In 2006 the government decided that it would award medals to people who had helped to establish South Korea but they had been ignored if they were socialists. She was awarded the
Order of Merit for National Foundation. ==Death and legacy==