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Farewell to coal, and to a generation (KOR)

Published: 18 Jun. 2025, 10:24

Kim Myung-hwa

The author is a playwright and director.

My life has long been bound to coal. My father once ran a coal briquette factory — a common source of household heating fuel in Korea at the time, and as a child, I was nicknamed “Blackie.” My sisters often said they would have stopped at high school if not for coal. It was that kind of era. Thanks to the business, all six daughters received a university education. Coal helped not only the country, but our family as well.

A scene from Yoon Jo-byeong’s play "Bonfire Morning Dew". [KOREAN STUDIES CENTRAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE]

Now, Korea’s last state-run coal mine, the Dogye Mining Complex, is preparing to shut down. Only one private coal operation, the Sangdong Mine, is expected to remain. With its closure, the age of coal and the fathers who supported their families with it seems to be ending.

Although there are records of coal use during the Joseon Dynasty, industrial mining only began in earnest in the 20th century. The Pyongyang Mining Office opened in 1903. Despite the colonial exploitation that followed, coal remained a central energy source in Korea’s postwar industrial development. It was a time when safety and labor rights were poorly understood. Disasters like tunnel collapses and conflicts such as the Sabuk miners’ uprising were common. Mining towns illuminated Korea’s path to modernity, even as they embodied its darkest extremes.

Korean theater has often reflected on this contrast. Playwrights like Yoon Dae-seong in “The Success Story”(1974) and Lee Kang-baek in “The People of the Jurassic Age” used the setting of the mines to explore themes of injustice and neglect. These dramatists helped define Korea’s modern history on stage while also acknowledging the marginalized labor of miners.

The entrance to the Dogye Mine stands quiet in May 2025, just a month before its closure. The Dogye Mining Complex is the last state-run coal mine operated by the Korea Coal Corporation. [KIM HONG-JUN]

Yoon Jo-byeong, in particular, immersed himself in the mining towns. In the early 1980s, during Korea’s military dictatorship, he visited coal-producing regions like Jeongseon, where he worked for over 20 days as a coal sorter and hauler before writing his mining town trilogy: "Bonfire Morning Dew," "The Sound of the Organ" and "From Crescent to New Moon." In an era when speaking of justice could be dangerous, his effort to dramatize the lives of miners was an act of quiet defiance.

Today, I find myself unexpectedly missing my late father, a strict patriarch against whom I often rebelled. I also miss those elder generations, now sometimes dismissed as outdated. To coal — now condemned as a pollutant — I say, thank you. You carried us far.

석탄 이별기
김명화 극작가·연출가

나는 석탄과 인연이 깊다. 아버지가 연탄 공장을 했기 때문이다. 어렸을 땐 별명이 ‘깜씨’였고 언니들은 연탄이 아니었으면 고등학교만 졸업했을 거라는 이야기를 하곤 했다. 그런 시절이었다. 다행히 딸 여섯이 모두 대학 교육을 마쳤으니, 석탄 산업이 나라 살림만이 아니라 우리 자매까지 살린 셈이다.

그런데 마지막 국영 탄광인 도계광업소가 곧 문을 닫는단다. 남은 것은 민영 탄광인 상동 광업소 정도라니 석탄으로 대변되는 아버지들의 시대가 막을 내리는 것 같다.

조선 시대에 석탄을 원료로 사용했다는 기록도 있지만 근대적 장비를 갖춘 석탄 채굴은 20세기의 산물이다. 1903년 평양 광업소가 그 시작. 이후 일제 강점기 때의 수탈을 거쳐 해방 이후에도 경제 개발을 위한 중심 에너지원은 오랫동안 석탄이었다. 안전과 인권에 대한 인식이 부족했던 시절이었다. 사북탄광 노동항쟁을 비롯한 갈등과 갱도 매몰 등 대형 사건이 늘 따라다녔으니, 탄광촌은 한국적 근대에 빛을 준 성소이자 말 그대로 ‘막장’ 이었다.

한국의 창작극 역시 그 어둠을 의식하곤 했다. 윤대성의 ‘출세기’와 이강백의 ‘쥬라기의 사람들’, 윤조병의 탄광촌 삼부작 등 선배 극작가들은 한국적 근대를 이끈 역군이지만 늘 뒷전으로 밀려났던 광부들에 대한 미안함과 세상의 폭력성을 극화하곤 했다.

특히 윤조병 선배는 탄광 지대를 답사하고 사북이 있던 정선에서 선탄부와 운반부로 20여일을 일한 뒤 ‘모닥불 아침이슬’ ‘풍금소리’ ‘초승에서 그믐까지’의 삼부작을 집필했다고 한다. 정의를 입 밖에 내기도 힘들었던 시절, 그것은 어떤 결기였을까.

오늘 문득 엄격한 가장이라 참 반항도 많이 했던 작고하신 아버님이, 이제 꼰대 세대로 후배들에게 지칭되곤 하는 선배들이 그립다. 환경오염의 주범이라고 비난받는 석탄아, 그동안 수고했다.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.