The return of an independence fighter
KIM HYUN-YEThe author is a Tokyo correspondent of the JoongAng Ilbo.
The old soldier’s hands were warm. He smiled when I said I would visit him in Korea. Patriot Oh Sung-kyu, who joined the Liberation Army at age 16, lived in Japan all his life since the liberation and chose to return to Korea at age 100. What did his son think when his father expressed his wish to spend his remaining days in Korea?
At a rental house in Nerima Ward, Tokyo on August 11, Oh’s son listened in on the conversation with the Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs who came to take his father back to Korea. As the son does not speak Korean, he did not understand the conversation.
But he remained motionless on his knees for about 30 minutes. He was also the head of the household, and it was difficult to take care of his father because he was busy making a living. Now that he could only see his father in Korea, there was some sadness involved. But he hid his complicated feelings and said it was what his father wanted.
“It was a miracle. A grandfather jumped out of his wheelchair!” The excited voice came over the phone. Ko Kyung-il is the head of Sanboram (literally “Worthwhile life”), a nursing facility for the Korean elderly in Osaka, Japan. A first-generation Korean Japanese man who could not move without a wheelchair stood up when he heard a Korean folk song with traditional drums. “I thought this must be the blood of the Korean people,” Ko said.
It was in the 1990s that he established a nursing facility for elderly ethnic Koreans called “Zainichi.” At the time, the Japanese government introduced the equivalent of Korea’s nursing insurance system, but there was no place for poor Zainichi seniors to go.
Ko was moved by the story of a first-generation Korean Japanese who came to Japan under various circumstances during colonial rule, lived through discrimination and poverty, and died alone. He named the facility “Sanboram,” as he wanted to care for them so that they felt the last moment was rewarding.
Forty-five senior citizens are staying here. Half of them are first generation Zainichi, who are very old. “It’s very strange. Even if the elderly Zainichi forgot all their Japanese, they didn’t forget their Korean, and even if they can’t swallow Japanese food, they can eat kimchi.” They sing arirang and make kimchi, but the operation of the facility is not easy due to their financial difficulties.
While we discuss the rapid aging of Japan, we don’t notice the sad stories of the elderly Zainichi, the non-mainstream in Japan who were brought over to Japan during colonial rule and wish to speak Korean and eat Kimchi in their last days.
According to the Korean Embassy in Tokyo, there are around 480,000 Koreans living in Japan. Among them, 42 are aged 100 or older this year. Has the time come to listen to what kind of ending they might want to have?
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.
Standards Board Policy (0/250자)