By Cho Jae-hyon
Staff Reporter
Photographer Lee Byung-yong still chokes back tears when he talks about a Korean War veteran and his widowed wife living in Turkey.
Mustafa Duzgun from Turkey died during the 1950-1953 Korean War; he was dispatched to Korea only six months after his marriage to Ayse Duzgun.
"She still lives alone in a remote village in Turkey at the age of 81. When I visited her, she heartily welcomed me, recalling and sharing the memory of her husband," Lee said in a telephone interview with The Korea Times.
While talking about her, he had to pause briefly as his voice was cracking.
"All I could do for her was enlarging their wedding photo," he said.
Lee with 22 years of experience as a photographer has taken photographs of Korean War veterans and their families, and collected related materials since 2006. It was the year when he heard about 12 Korean War veterans and their families who sought asylum here due to their financial difficulties.
"The news that they sought asylum here due to economic difficulties was a shock to me ― I was leading a comfortable life thanks to their sacrifice," he said. "Since then, I have started tracking Korean War veterans living overseas and taking photographs of them."
Lee, who grew up in Chuncheon in Gangwon Province where many battles took place during the war, said he has some childhood memories about war monuments and relics. He believes these memories also played some role in leading him to the job of recording the war veterans.
In 2007, he flew to Ethiopia to take photos of old veterans living in the Korean Village who were fighting poverty. He saw some veterans selling medals they received in recognition of their achievements in battles.
"When I meet them and say, `I came here just to thank you,' they just weep for a long while and told me they were greatly relieved," Lee said.
On top of financial difficulties, they are left uncared for and unattended by society.
"You know the experience of killing people during battle is not something you can erase. They are living with this huge pain, something they cannot share with other people," he said.
He said most veterans are now over 80 years old and he wants to take as many photos as possible before they pass. Lee is also recording their lives in writing.
"What is left for those who took part in the war is scars from the war. But they don't hold a grudge against Korea," he said. "I want to record their pains and what they think before it's too late."
Lee has held several exhibitions and plans to open another in Gangwon Province this year to mark the 60th anniversary of the Korean War.
Lee covers most of the costs for the exhibitions and overseas travel on his own without support from sponsors.
"There are no particular sponsors. This morning, I checked whether Chuncheon city government could help arrange the exhibition. But I was rejected," Lee said.
Lee, 53, is unmarried and lives in Ilsan-gu, Gyenoggi Province.
Asked whether he has any family members he has to take care of, he said, "The war veterans are the families I will take care of."
Lee plans to travel to the United States, Canada and Colombia in July and August to meet veterans and take their photos.
"Then I plan to visit some European countries. I will wrap up the first phase of my photo-taking and materials collection by 2017 and then will hold exhibitions, touring the nations that took part in the Korean War," he said.
He said the exhibition tour will be held for three years to 2020, the 70th anniversary of the Korean War.
He will later donate the photos to the nations as historical materials, his way of thanking them for their participation in the war.
Lee said he is happy to make an impact on people with his camera.
"I started taking pictures decades ago because it was fun. Once it becomes a profession, it turns into a sort of shackle. But since I started this job (of taking photos of war veterans), I am so happy that I can do a meaningful job with photography," he said. "I'm doing this because I like it and it's all the more better as the subjects of my photos also like it very much."