First lady pays respect to Yun I-sang

Kim plants camellia brought from Korea at composer’s grave

By Lee Kyung-min

First lady Kim Jung-sook visited the Gatow Cemetery, where the late composer Yun I-sang (1917-1995) is buried, in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, to pay her respects to the late artist.

His talent has long been overshadowed by his alleged pro-North Korea sympathies amid the severe ideological conflict of the 1960s.

During her visit to Germany, where she accompanied President Moon Jae-in who is attending the G20 summit, Kim visited the grave and planted a camellia she brought from Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang Province. The coastal city, where Yun was born in 1917, is known for camellia shrubs of which there are more than 100,000.

“I cried a lot, heartbroken after learning that Yun came to the port of Tongyeong, only to be denied entry. I brought the plant to honor him who yearned for the country to achieve independence from Japanese occupation,” said Kim, a classical vocal music major who studied at Kyung Hee University.

Kim said she would help the Isang Yun Peace Foundation set up a memorial in honor of Yun.

The comment followed a request by Park Young-hee, a former professor at Bremen University. Park said while the foundation managed in 2008 to buy the house where Yun was born, building the memorial has been put on hold due to a budget shortfall.

Under the former President Park Geun-hye administration, the foundation was denied state support because Yun was listed on a “cultural blacklist” of about 10,000 artists who voiced criticism against the conservative leader and her late father, military strongman Park Chung-hee.

Yun is a highly recognized artist in Europe for converging musical techniques of the East and the West in his compositions.

However, he was persecuted here after being labeled as a “North Korea sympathizer,” after his visit to the isolationist country to see “Sasindo,” a historical painting of Goguryeo (BC 37-668), an ancient Kingdom of Korea in North Pyongan Province.

Yun was among 194 artists and professors based in East Berlin labeled as North Korea spies by then President Park Chung-hee. The government alleged that they communicated with North Korea through the North Korean Embassy in the city and engaged in anti-state activities.

Yun was one of only two sentenced to death out of 23 people sentenced to prison terms for espionage. He served two years in prison and was released with the help of the German government which later granted Yun citizenship in 1971.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of Yun’s birth. The 2017 Tongyeong International Music Festival took place at the Tongyeong International Music Hall under the theme “Remembering Yun I-sang” between March 31 and April 9.