After the Manchurian Incident in 1931 and the Sino-Japanese War in 1937, the Japanese Colonialism enforced the colonized Korean's collaboration in wartime. At that time, Korean intellectuals confronted with a difficult questions such as between resistance and collaboration against the Japanese Imperialism. In this paper, I want to read Hong Myung-hwi (1888~1968), Choi Nam-son (1890~1957), Lee Kwang-su (1892~1950)'s activities in 1930~1940s. They(Three Korean geniuses in Tokyo) had lived as poet, novelist, publisher, editor, teacher, and historian through their whole life and they had a key role among the leaders of Korean nationalists against the Japan Imperialism. However, in those time, their life were divided which was based on fidelity.
At that time, the colonized Korean society took notice of their activities. However, the Three Korean geniuses became estranged each other because of the different understanding on the socialism and the future of Korean nation. Hong Myung-hwi wrote a famous novel which was connected with the Korean Studies in 1930s. Choi Nam-son still published articles and books on Korean culture and history but he kept silent on the political issues. Moreover, Lee Kwang-su felt frustrated his view on independence of Korea. So both Choi Nam-son and Lee Kwang-su turned coat and became pro-Japanese toward the end of Japanese colonization era. They were too intent on mobilizing of Korean people in War time. Analyzing these three Korean geniuses in Tokyo will help deepen our understanding of Korean nationalists' cultural activities in the early 20th century.