Often found at theaters and museums, Kwon Mee-yoo has covered a wide range of cultural fields from K-pop and dramas to theater and fine art for over a decade. Now as K-Culture Desk editor, she tries to connect Korean culture with global readers through fresh perspectives.
Pro-Japanese composer's memorial causes stir
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Hong Nan-pa
By Kwon Mee-yoo
By Kwon Mee-yoo
A right-wing civic organization requested to remove a monument in commemoration of pro-Japanese composer Hong Nan-pa (1897-1941) located near the Independence Hall of Korea in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, Thursday.
According to the Institute for Research in Collaborationist Activities (IRCA), a civic organization studying modern history of Korea, the memorial in question is set up in the "Hill of Independence," along the driveway to the Independence Hall.
On the Hill of Independence, trees and memorial stones for independence activists including Yu Gwan-sun, one of the organizers of the March 1 movement later died from torture; Yun Bong-gil, who led the bombing of Japanese dignitaries in Shanghai in 1932; and Han Yong-un, a poet and national activist.
The garden on the hill was created in 1987 by Cheonan municipal goverment, to celebrate the opening of the Independence Hall.
Hong is a renowned composer and violinist during the Japanese colonization era. He is the author of Korean's favorite songs such as "Spring in My Hometown" and "Bongseonhwa (Garden Balsam)."
The IRCA listed Hong in its biographical dictionary about pro-Japanese collaborators in 2009. The instituted claimed that Hong worked for a culture committee of the National Full-Force Federation of Joseon, a pro-Japanese organization.
Bang Hak-jin, secretary-general of IRCA, said, "The hill is a public place commemorating Korea's independence and visitors should know about Hong's pro-Japanese movement as well as his achievement, if not removing the memorial stone."
This is not the first time for Hong to spark a controversy of his pro-Japanese movement. In 2013, composer Ryu Jea-joon boycotted receiving the Hong Nanpa Memorial Award, which is given to the nation's prominent classical musicians, questioning the fairness and morality of the award, named after a musician who sympathized with Japanese rule.
On Aug. 29 every year, an anti-Japanese concert is held playing music of pro-Japanese musicians including Hong not to forget the JapanKorea Annexation Treaty in 1910.
Cheonan City official said they will hear the opinion from the academic world to decide the future of Hong's memorial on the Hill of Independence.