hankyoreh

North Korea. The small white plaque designates the spot as the place of Ahn’s birth

By Kang Tae-ho, staff reporter

North and South Korea have agreed in principle to holding a mass at a cathedral in Pyongyang on Christmas Day. The two sides plan to work out the details through a working-level meeting in Kaeseong in early December.

A team from the Ahn Jung-geun Memorial Society, including Fr. Ham Se-ung, reached this agreement during a visit to Pyongyang and Haeju in North Korea from Nov. 13 to 17. The two sides decided to resume a number of projects that were put on hold after the May 24 measures taken by the Lee Myung-bak government [after the sinking of the ROKS Cheonan], including a joint memorial service for Ahn Jung-geun and the restoration of Ahn’s former house.

Ahn was a Korean patriot and independence activist who assassinated then-Japanese Resident General Ito Hirobumi in 1909, shortly before Japan’s annexation of Korea.

Fr. Ham shared this information in an interview with the Hankyoreh on Nov. 28. “The North seems willing to take active steps to restore inter-Korean relations,” he said.

On March 26th, 2010, the 100th anniversary of the death of Ahn Jung-geun, the North and South held a joint event at the Lushun Prison in China. They also agreed to locate materials related to restoring Ahn’s dwelling and to host a joint academic conference, but negotiations ended abruptly when the Cheonan was sunk that same day.

Fr. Ham and nine other members of the Ahn Jung-geun Memorial Society visited the North after being invited by Jang Jae-un, chairman of the DPRK Council of Religionists. The visit adhered to Ministry of Unification guidelines, which permit visits to the North for limited humanitarian purposes and certain social and cultural exchange projects.

The Ahn Jung-geun Memorial Society will host a joint ceremony for the 103rd anniversary of the death of Ahn on Mar. 26, 2013, in Lushun. In addition, representatives say, the Society is planning to begin full-scale discussion of restoring various historical sites. These include the Samheung School in Nampo (formerly Jinnampo), built by Ahn; Ahn’s former residence in the Cheonggye neighborhood in the town of Dora in Sincheon County, South Hwanghae Province; and Cheonggye Cathedral.

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