hankyoreh

By Choi Woo-ri

“As the price he paid for selling and sending a mother and her two daughters to the hell that is North Korea, Yun I-sang lived a life of luxury. How come he and even his family moved between Tongyeong, Pyongyang and Germany, living in luxury? It seems Tongyeong is a place that idolizes a human trafficking spy. Let's drive Yun I-sang out of here,” The Field Army of 5 Million for Cleaning up the Republic of Korea.

Tongyeong, a city gently embraced by the blue waters of the southern sea, is in trouble. In this “Naples of the East,” which has produced many writers and musicians, including Yu Chi-hwan and Kim Chun-su, a game of branding individuals North Korean spies is in full swing. The star of the show is the late Yun I-sang, world-renowned composer and son of Tongyeong. 16 years have gone by since this giant of contemporary music, once cited as one of the five greatest composers alive, died, but his status as a “wounded dragon” persists even in the otherwise hope-filled year of the black dragon. 
　

The direct reason for Yun's return to prominence came in summer last year, when certain conservative civic and religious groups claimed that 69-year-old Sin Suk-ja and her two daughters, 35-year-old O Hye-won and 33-year-old O Gyu-won, all from Tongyeong, were living in Yodok political prison camp in Hamgyeongnam-do, North Korea. The groups claimed that Yun I-sang himself that had sent the girls to the camp. The case has become known as the “daughters of Tongyeong” controversy.

The three women are the wife and daughters of Dr. O Gil-nam, who studied in Germany in the 1980s. In 1985, the whole family left Germany and moved to North Korea; the following year, Dr. O escaped the North alone and eventually returned to the South in 1992. O subsequently claimed, through writings and lectures, that Yun I-sang had directly recommended that he and his family move to North Korea, and that even after he himself had escaped from the North, Yun threatened the lives of O's remaining family members in the North and put pressure on O to return there to his family. 
　


Yun's 85-year-old wife, Lee Su-ja, and 62-year-old daughter Yun Yun-jeong, who had kept silent and avoided the media as the controversy grew, spoke for the first time in an exclusive interview with the Hankyoreh. Lee, refuted O's claims one by one, saying, “If anyone has worked as hard as we have to get O's family back from the North, I'd like to meet them.” She revealed the complicated emotions she had felt recently while observing the controversy, saying, “We didn't know the photographs and cassette tapes of his wife and daughters, which we obtained with much difficulty after pleading with the North, would actually be used to attack Yun I-sang.” Her daughter, Yun-jeong, has reported O and others leading the current movement, such as pastor Bang Su-yeol of Tongyeong Hyeondae Church, for slandering the dead.

Lee said very little when the conversation turned to the subject of the condolatory visit to North Korea following the death of Kim Jong-il late last year. Sitting next to her, her daughter repeatedly restrained her from speaking. The reason was that saying anything could cause unnecessary misunderstanding in both South and North Korea. After pictures published by the (North) Korean Central News Agency on December 26 last year revealed that Lee and her daughter had made a condolatory visit, figures such as 69-year-old conservative polemicist and military critic Ji Man-won reported the two women for violation of the National Security Law.
　

Lee admitted she had met Kim Jong-un, a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea, during their visit. “We briefly offered condolences to the family and relatives, and Kim Jong-un was there too,” she said. In other words, their encounter was brief and not one where she sat down separately with Kim Jong-un and held a conversation. 
　

A brief commotion is known to have occurred when Lee and Yun returned to South Korea on January 1 at Busan's Gimhae International Airport. After their condolatory visit, “When we re-entered the country, they searched thoroughly through our suitcase and a small piece of hand luggage at customs,” said Yun.

“I've been through customs searches several times before, but [this time], instead of just looking at portable items, they resolutely read through every single piece of paper or document from start to finish. I got angry and started crying,” she said, becoming agitated. 
　


“Lee and her daughter's condolatory visit to North Korea must be regarded as having been out of goodwill toward North Korea, which appreciated the music of Yun I-sang, a democrat,” said Tongyeong International Music Festival director Lee Yong-min.

“Unlike other mourners, Lee and her daughter were not wearing Kim Il-sung badges at the time of their visit,” he emphasized. “The reason Lee and her daughter often visit North Korea is in order to support the Yun I-sang Research Institute there. We need to understand the lives of this mother and daughter, who have no choice but to live as marginal people.” 
　


A Maltese dog by the name of “Nami” currently lives in Tongyeong with Lee and her daughter. The dog the Lee previously raised in North Korea was also called Nami.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]