Isang Yun’s Widow Visits Homeland After 40 Years

I Soo-ja, 80, wife of the late maestro composer Isang Yun, holds a press conference in Seoul, Tuesday.

/ Yonhap

By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter

I Soo-ja, 80, wife of the late maestro composer Isang Yun (1917-1995), has returned home Tuesday for the first time in 40 years since being kidnapped here together with her husband from Germany by the South Korean secret police. The highly scandalous East Berlin spy incident had scarred the Korean-German couple for life, but the upcoming Isang Yun Festival signals the recovery of her husband's honor here, I told reporters at a press conference in Seoul.

``Please help the cultural heritage Prof. Isang Yun has left behind to blossom and bear fruit,'' she urged. She broke into tears several times during the press meeting, having to pause but she maintained her composure throughout.

``That is the way to truly honor and reestablish the impaired reputation of a tragic artist who had lived as a proud son of the nation,'' she said.

Yun gained a strong reputation in the international avant-garde scene while pursuing a musical career in Berlin during the late 1950s and 60s. His life took a tragic turn in 1967 when the South Korean government accused him of ``high treason.'' An international petition lead by Igor Stravinsky and Herbert von Karajan enabled him to escape life imprisonment. The couple had since lived in Berlin, and Yun was interred in a grave of honor bestowed upon by the City Senate when he died in 1995.

``As a son of the nation, Prof. Isang Yun lived with no shame whatsoever and has shined upon his motherland. The entirety of 150 artworks endorse the spirit and thoughts of his homeland,'' she said.

``I thought I was rather unemotional but once I boarded the homebound plane I burst into a rage of tears,'' she said. ``My husband comes home with me in spirit.''

I said she feels rather foreign in Seoul, but hopes she can become better attached over time. She plans to attend programs here celebrating her late husband, and also visit Yun's hometown in Hamheung, and make a trip to Jeju Island. She will then fly to Pyongyang Oct. 3 to participate in the annual Isang Yun celebrations there.

The 2007 Isang Yun Festival commemorates Yun in Seoul, Pyongyang and Berlin, through a variety of programs, Sep.16-Nov.10. Visit www.isangyun.org for more information.

hyowlee@koreatimes.co.kr

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