Lee Hae-rin is a City Desk reporter at The Korea Times, covering social issues, tourism and taekwondo. She is passionate about speaking up for the rights of minorities, including women, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities and animals as well as discovering the latest makgeolli trend in town. Feel free to reach her at lhr@koreatimes.co.kr.
Gwangju's plan to honor communist composer stirs controversy
The life and musical achievements of Gwangju-born musician Jeong Yul-seong, and his social stature in China, are presented in Korean and Mandarin along the walls of a street named after the musician in Gwangju's southern Nam District, Wednesday. Yonhap
By Lee Hae-rin
By Lee Hae-rin
A plan to build a park in Gwangju in honor of communist composer Jeong Yul-seong, who was born in the city in southwestern Korea, has sparked sharp division in public opinion.
The controversy escalated when the Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs Park Min-shik publicly criticized the municipality for the initiative last week.
“Gwangju City's plan to commemorate someone who was at the forefront of bringing down the Republic of Korea as a free country is deeply alarming. It must be completely withdrawn,” Park wrote on his Facebook, Tuesday, explaining that Jeong “contributed to the establishment of the North Korean government and sounded the invasion march to South Korea during the 1950-1953 Korean War by writing a North Korean marching song.”
Announced in May 2020, the project to build the Jeong Yul-seong Historical Park aims to celebrate the composer's life and musical accomplishments. With a budget of 4.8 billion won ($3.6 million), the park is set to be completed by the end of this year near Jeong's birthplace in the eastern Dong District.
Jeong, also known as Zheng Fuen in China, is a renowned musician of Korean ethnicity who composed the military anthem for the People's Liberation Army of China and a marching song for the North Korean People's Army.
Jeong Yul-seong / Korea Times file
Born in Gwangju around 1914 or 1918, Jeong moved to China in 1933 where he studied music and entered the Korean independence fighter training academy in Nanjing before joining the Chinese Communist Party in 1939. After Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial occupation in 1945, he crossed to North Korea and later fought alongside North Korean forces in the Korean War as a member of the Chinese army during the 1950-53 Korean War.
He returned to China to avoid Kim Il-sung's purge and was naturalized as a Chinese citizen in 1956. He wrote pieces for the Chinese Communist Party until he died and was buried in China's revolutionary cemetery in 1976 as a Chinese national.
Jeong, whose ideological background had led to him being shunned in South Korea for a long time, has reentered the public consciousness following the discovery of his birthplace in the early 2000s.
Gwangju City Mayor Kang Gi-jung refuted the minister's criticism.
“Gwangju neither treats Jeong as a hero nor disparages him. To Gwangju, he is an outstanding musician and his life reflects the agony of the time,” he wrote on his Facebook on the same day.
“Germany's Berlin still has statues of Marx and Engels and a street dedicated to Marx. This is the way of remembering history today. Thanks to Jeong's achievements, many Chinese tourists visit Gwangju,” Kang added, noting that the city will continue to invest in developing Jeong's historic legacy as the city's cultural asset despite objections.
However, a group of students and intellectuals from the Jeolla provinces have called for the project's cancellation, labeling Jeong a war criminal and demanding an apology from the mayor.
The controversy drew reactions from the political circle as well.
Several lawmakers from the ruling People Power Party (PPP), including a North Korean defector-turned-lawmaker Rep. Tae Yong-ho, denounced the city's plan to glorify who they believe is a Chinese and North Korean war hero.
“No country in the world would build a memorial park for a composer who wrote marching songs for the invaders,” Tae wrote on his Facebook, Friday, underscoring that Jeong contributed to the wartime atrocities and deaths of millions of South Koreans.
In response, Gwangju's local governors from the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) voiced in favor of the project, issuing a joint statement, Friday, arguing that Jeong contributed to the wartime anti-Japan movement with his works.