hankyoreh

The memorial to Shin Hyo-sun and Shim Mi-seon

“Just as the memorial was raised through the power of the people, so we will build the peace park with the support and encouragement of the public. It’s time to bring an end to the ‘asphalt ceremonies’ and the traveling memorials that can find no peace even after death, and to reopen the investigation.”

These were the words spoken in a telephone interview with the Hankyoreh on June 5 by Park Seok-boon, a member of the joint preparatory committee for an event commemorating the 15th anniversary of the deaths of Shin Hyo-sun and Shim Mi-seon.

Fundraising efforts are under way for the raising of a memorial and building of a peace park for the 15th anniversary of Shim and Shin’s deaths on the site where the middle school students were fatally struck by a US military tracked vehicle in 2002 in the Gwangjeok township of Yangju, Gyeonggi Province. Within two weeks of the efforts’ launch, some 30 million won (US$26,800) in contributions had been raised from members of the public sympathetic to the park’s aims and 400 members of 26 civic and social groups, including the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions.

The preparatory committee recently signed a contract to purchase a 366 square meter plot of land at the scene of the incident - valued at 111 million won (US$99,000) - for the raising of the memorial, titled “Girl’s Dream,” and the building of the peace park. The committee estimates the total cost of the park’s construction at around 300 million won (US$268,000) and plans to continue raising funds for the project through late September. The land’s owner refused to sell the site for the peace park, which was the planned site for the memorial, created for the tenth anniversary of the incident in 2012 with donations from around 600 members of the public. As the memorial couldn‘t be set up, organizers ended up having to cart around the memorial in a truck for various commemorative events. Consisting of two metal blocks measuring 2.4 meters in height and 1.8 meters across, the memorial was created by Kim Woon-sung and Kim Seo-kyung, the artists responsible for the statue across from the Japanese embassy in Seoul commemorating Japanese military comfort women.

schoolgirls killed by a US military vehicle in 2002

Shim and Shin were second-year middle school students at the time of the incident on June 13, 2002. They were walking to a friend’s birthday party along a local road in Gwangjeok without a sidewalk when they were fatally struck by a US Forces Korea tracked vehicle returning from exercises. The investigation into the incident continued until 2009, but was subsequently suspended.

“Investigation records received from the Uijeongbu District Prosecutors‘ Office in 2005 conclusively showed that the USFK soldier driving could see the students, and there was no communication hindrance between the driver and signalman,” said Park Seok-boon.

“Yet key details from the investigation record were omitted or concealed, and we were only allowed to see part of the trial record.”

Park explained that the raising of the memorial and building of the peace park “is meant as a way of preserving the scene of the accident and using the power of the people to address longstanding issues like the investigation, punishment of those responsible, and amendment of the Status of Forces Agreement.”

“We look forward to the new administration’s support,” Park added.

For the first time in 14 years, Shim and Shin’s fathers and other family members are scheduled to attend this year’s commemorative ceremony on June 13. Family members have declined to attend past ceremonies organized by civic and social groups.

By Park Kyung-man, north Gyeonggi correspondent

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