VANK founder promotes hidden heroes

VANK founder Park Gi-tae

By Kim Tae-gyu

Voluntary Agency Network of Korea (VANK) founder Park Gi-tae will embark on a campaign of letting youngsters learn about those who fought for the independence of the country from the Japanese colonial rule (1910-1945).

VANK is a non-governmental organization dedicated to promoting a positive image of Korea. With about 130,000 members, it carries out various projects such as asking overseas Internet sites to correct false data about the nation.

“We know that many of our ancestors shed their blood to attain independence but few know exactly who they were. Accordingly, we will start a promotional campaign to highlight them,” Park said.

“Specifically, we will make a 10-minute video clip each month on independence activists and share them with everybody. It will be provided in Korean and there will also be a version with English subtitles available on YouTube.”

The first video footage this week will be about Jeon Myeong-un and Jang In-hwan, who shot and killed American diplomat Durham Stevens in the United States in 1908.

Employed by Japan’s foreign ministry, Stevens provoked the ire of Koreans with remarks that Korea was not fit to be a liberated country and it benefited from the Japanese protection.

“Most of VANK members are older teens or 20-somethings. They need to know our history in more detail and we want our campaign to be of help to them. Ethnic Koreans in other countries will also be able to take advantage of the video files,” Park said.

After being established in 1999, VANK has continued to stage activities to improve the image of Korea under the stewardship of its founder Park.

One of its main focuses is Dokdo, Korea’s easternmost volcanic outcropping in the East Sea. Some foreign map service providers name it Takeshima just as the Japanese do.

Japan’s plan B has been to spread the name of Liancourt Rocks to make the world see Dokdo as a disputed area. Le Liancourt, a French whaler, thought he first found the islets in 1849 and named them after himself.

VANK headed the efforts to ask for a revision and many followed the requests but not everyone did so. In its World Factbook, the Central Intelligence Agency sticks to Liancourt Rocks for Dokdo and Sea of Japan for the East Sea despite the repeated demands from Koreans including VANK members to change the names.

Located some 90 kilometers east of Korea’s Ulleung Island and about 160 kilometers northwest of Japan’s Oki Island, Dokdo is a pair of islets and many rocks whose ownership has been disputed between Seoul and Tokyo for the past several decades.

Dokdo is under the strict control of Korea with maritime police officers stationed there. Korean civilians also live on the island. But Japan has not stopped claiming sovereignty of Dokdo with abundant fishing resources and minerals.

Under the leadership of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Tokyo administration strengthened the initiative with a series of controversial maneuvers to fray the already strained relationship between the two neighbors.