Residents in hometown pay respect to Kim
By Kim Rahn, Kim Se-jeong
Citizens touch a statue of former President Kim Young-sam at the Kim Young-sam Presidential Archives and Exhibit Hall next to Kim’s birthplace on Geoje Island, South Gyeongsang Province, during their visit to a memorial altar set up there, Thursday. / Yonhap
Residents of Geoje Island, South Gyeongsang Province, bade farewell to the late President Kim Young-sam, who was born there, on Kim’s funeral day, Thursday.
In the five days since his death on Sunday through the funeral, more than 16,000 people paid their respects to the late president at a memorial altar set up in Daegye Village where Kim was born in 1927.
Students of Jangmok Elementary School, where Kim was a student, visited the altar and paid their respects.
One of the teachers at the school said, “We told the children about the death of Kim, an old boy of the school. The students said they would follow the example of the former President.”
A regional zoo owner sent a standing wreath which had a birdcage with two white Java sparrows. The birds were set free at 2 p.m. when the funeral started.
“I heard from my father about Kim’s achievements,” the zoo owner, Seol Bo-guk, said. “He did not give up his dream of democracy for the nation although he suffered many setbacks. I respect him.”
Mourners looked around the house and the Kim Young-sam Presidential Archives and Exhibit Hall next door.
Kim Yang-yeon, 80, who used to be Kim’s neighbor on the island, remembered him as friendly. “We moved here after we got married. We were not well-off and took water from the well of the late President’s house. I considered him part of my family, and I am deeply saddened.”
Kim was an only son born to a wealthy fishing family; he had five sisters. He grew up on the island until 1943 when he moved to Tongyeong to attend middle school.