World History

Yet he was murdered in 1949 by national security elements in South Korea supporting Syngman Rhee. Syngman Rhee had previously lost his standing in the provisional government in exile because of his corruption. The wikipedia refers to historian Bruce Cummings' theory that there may have been a connection to the US occupation government.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Koo

I don't think there is any question that fighting for your country's independence from unwanted foreign occupation is patriotic. It's interesting that the older Kim Gu had in his youth partaken in the Tong Hak rebellion which invited foreign intervention from Chinese invaders and the Japanese Imperial response in 1894 which began this long tragic tale. I think for this reason Kim Gu, now seeing the foreign influence of communism in North Korea after the Aug 45 liberation was leery of it.

Was Ho Chi Minh a patriot? The historian Bernard Fall, I think thought so. The legitimacy of resisting foreign occupiers is a natural occurrence. It isn't granted or lost by foreign observers. One can question Kim Won Bong's patriotism, was it divested by his defection to the north? Viewed more cynically, I think he survived longer than he would have in South Korea.