The last remaining independence activist in Japan came home on Sunday at the age of 100.

Oh Sung-kyu returned to the nation via Gimpo Airport together with a government delegation led by patriots and veterans affairs minister Park Min-shik.

Greeted by an honor guard playing the national anthem and a children's choir singing a song he himself sang while serving in the Independence Army, Oh said that he was overwhelmed and expressed gratitude while adding that he wanted to die in his own country.

From the airport, the veteran headed to the Seoul National Cemetery to pay respects to his former military leader, who is laid to rest there.

Born in 1923, Oh actively took part in the anti-Japanese movement in Manchuria during Japan’s colonial rule of Korea until he was forced to flee once his network became compromised, going on to take part in the independence movement in China’s Anhui Province.

Oh, who received an Order of Merit for National Foundation in 1990, had expressed intent to live out the remainder of his life in South Korea after residing in Japan.