U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Kathleen Stephens, left, talks with Kim Shin, director of the Kim Koo Museum and Library in Seoul, during her visit to the museum, Saturday. / Yonhap |
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Kathleen Stephens visited a Seoul museum Saturday that honors the late Kim Koo, the sixth and last president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea in Shanghai, during the Japanese colonial period (1910-1945), the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs said Sunday.
It was the first time that a U.S. ambassador had visited the museum that opened in October 2002, the ministry said in a news release. Former U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Stephen W. Bosworth visited the Kim Koo Museum and Library in Hyochang-dong, Seoul, after his retirement, it said.
Stephens told reporters that she was visiting the museum with her son to learn about Korean history, dismissing speculation that her visit was something to do with a recent row here over the legitimacy of the Korean government-in-exile.
Stephens met with Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs Kim Yang and Kim Koo's second son, Kim Shin, who serves as director of the museum, ministry officials said.
A group of independence fighters and their descendants recently filed complaints with the authorities, claiming that a government brochure denies the legitimacy of the provisional government.
Culture Minister Yu In-chon apologized for the ``mistake'' last week and reiterated the related content did not reflect the Lee Myung-bak administration's view on modern Korean history.
``What I do know is that learning Korean history, studying Korean history is an ongoing project for all of us,'' the American ambassador told Yonhap news agency.
``I know there's much to learn hear. So that's how I came to visit today, something I've been waiting to do almost two years,'' she said, adding that she was enjoying reading and English translation of Kim Koo's autobiography. ``I think it gives us a lot of insight into… a very, very important and challenging time in Korean history.''
Stephens, who served as a Peace Corps volunteer in South Korea between 1975 and 1977, is known to have a keen interest and an extensive academic background in Asian history.
In April 2007, she gave a lecture on Korea-U.S. relations during the Kim Koo Forum organized by the Korea Institute at her alma mater, Harvard University.
Harvard plans to adopt the ``Kim Koo Visiting Professorship'' from next year as part of efforts to expand its study on Korean history, according to the release.
Born in August 1876 in Haeju, South Hwanghae Province, Kim spearheaded the Korean independence movement against the Japanese occupation of Korea and was an activist who struggled for the reunification of the two Koreas after the division in 1945.
Kim exiled himself to Shanghai, China, in 1919 after the nationwide non-violent March 1 Independence Movement was violently suppressed by the Japanese imperialist government.
In Shanghai, Kim joined the provisional government. After serving as police minister, he became president of the Provisional Government in 1927. He was re-elected to the office many times by the Provisional Assembly. He later organized the Korean Liberation Army, which took part in warfare in China and Southeast Asia after World War II broke out.
gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr
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yistory@koreatimes.co.kr
