Kim Junyeon 金俊淵 (김준연) was born in 1895 in the Korean province of Jeolla. He attended a high school in Seoul from 1910. Inspired by the desire to become a lawyer, he moved to Japan in 1914 and passed the entrance examination for the Faculty of German Law at the Imperial University of Tōkyō in 1917. During this time, he became involved in the Korean Christian Youth Association; in 1919, he also became enthusiastic about the Korean independence movement. In 1921, he passed his university exams and was accepted into the graduate school of political science at the University of Tōkyō. From 1922 to 1924, he studied politics and law at the University of Berlin. When Koreans living in Japan were victims of a pogrom after the Great Kantō Earthquake of 1 September 1923, Kim and other Korean students organized a protest movement in Germany. In 1925, he returned to Korea and became a journalist for the newspaper Choseon Ilbo 朝鮮日報. He was sent to Moscow as a correspondent and became involved in the communist movement.

After Choseon Ilbo was banned by the Japanese colonial power, he switched to the newspaper Dong-A Ilbo 東亞日報 in 1928. In 1936, he took responsibility for the newspaper publishing a photo of Son Gijeong (Son Kitei) 孫基禎 (손기정), the winner of the marathon at the Berlin Olympics, with the Japanese flag cut out of his jersey. The Japanese colonial government temporarily banned the newspaper and Kim Junyeon left the editorial office. From this time onwards, he became one of the most important campaigners for Korean independence. On August 14, 1945, the Japanese colonial administration offered him the leadership of an interim government, but he refused.

After the end of the Second World War, Kim renounced communism, was elected to parliament as a liberal and supported the government of Yi Seungman. He later opposed the dictator Park Jeung-Heui and spoke out vehemently against the peace treaty with Japan that he wanted. He died in Seoul in 1971.

This photo of Olympic champion Son Kijeong appeared in the Dong-A Ilbo on August 25, 1936 and led to the newspaper being banned and Kim Junyeon leaving the editorial team.