South Korea posthumously bestowed a state medal on late U.S. Senator George W. Norris on Monday in recognition of his contribution to Korea's efforts to win independence from Japan's colonial rule in the early 20th century.

South Korean Ambassador Ahn Ho-young handed the National Medal of the Order of National Foundation Merit to the late senator's great-grandson David Norris Rath on behalf of the government in a ceremony at the ambassador's residence.

Norris served as a member of the House of Representatives from 1903 to 1913 and then as a senator from 1913 to 1943 before his death in 1944 at age 83. He is known for addresses in the Senate criticizing Japan's brutal 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea in the course of the Senate's 1919 rejection of the Treaty of Versailles.

The late senator is also known to have provided support for Korean independence fighters Syngman Rhee and Soh Jaipil, living in Washington at the time. After Korea's independence and national division, Rhee later became first president of South Korea.

The decision to confer the medal on Norris was made as part of South Korea's efforts to recognize foreign contributors to the country's independence, officials said.

"It is a tremendous honor. It is a tremendous honor for my family. We thank the Korean ambassador in South Korea very much for recognizing my great-grandfather," said Rath, president of Saints Peter and Paul High School in Maryland.

"If he were here today ... he would not want this ceremony. He was a very selfless individual, and did things quietly, and he just always wanted to do the right thing. But from our family, we thank South Korea very much for this honor and we're happy to keep his legacy alive," he said. (Yonhap)