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Clearing the shadow of history

Published: 17 Oct. 2023, 20:19

The conflict over creating a memorial park for Chung Yool-sung (1914–1976) — the Gwangju-born composer known in China as Zheng Lucheng — is deepening. He is commemorated by the Chinese government as a national hero for composing the anthem of the People’s Liberation Army. The bust of Chung standing at the Chung Yool-sung Road in Nam District of Gwangju was damaged for the second time this month. The 56-year-old man who pushed the bust to the floor upon release from the police made the same damage earlier this month.

Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs Park Min-shik demanded in August that the Gwangju city government stop the project to create a memorial park for Chung, who is also commemorated in North Korea. But the city, which had earmarked 4.8 billion won ($3.6 million) to create a memorial park around Chung’s birthplace in May 2020, defied the government order.

A civilian conflict has heated up ahead of the opening of the memorial park, which will be completed in December. A civic group in Gwangju slammed the government for interfering with the project that had been started and encouraged by the governments under conservative Presidents Roh Tae-woo and Kim Young-sam to increase exchanges with China. Park last week reiterated the call for the cancellation of the project and the removal of Chung’s bust. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety also advised the city to change the name of the Chung Yool-sung Road.

Chung joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1939 and composed the military anthem “March of the Eighth Route Army.” He also composed the anthem for North Korea’s People’s Army in 1949 and enjoyed a hero-like status in both China and North Korea. Memorial projects took place in his hometowns in Gwangju and Hwasoon County in South Jeolla, where he spent his childhood, after Seoul and Beijing normalized diplomatic ties in 1992. Public opinion over the little-known composer turned sour upon learning of his enlistment in the Chinese Army during the Korean War (1950–53). Composing music and involvement in a war against South Korea is different. Organizations representing veterans and democracy movements have been protesting the glorification of Chung.

Middle and high school history textbooks issued by the Gwangju Education Office omit or downplay his role in the North Korean regime or the Chinese Army. However, Gwangju Mayor Kang Gi-jung insists that the memorial park project is based on civilian wishes. Since the park is near completion, undoing cannot be practical. But since his involvement in the Korean War is a fact, celebrating him purely as a musician isn’t right. The mixed view on his life must be clearly stated in the monuments and postings.