뉴스레터

July 22-28, I went around Primorsky Krai and China’s northeastern region, including Manchuria, with 44 people, including 35 high school students and teachers and officials from the foundation, the Education Ministry, and education offices. This project, part of the “Northeast Asian peace and unification experience projects,” was planned by the Education Ministry and funded by the Chungcheongbuk-do Office of Education. 

Let me briefly introduce the schedule and main content of the project.

Having briefed participants with prior education materials and guidance in the foundation’s conference room on July 21, we left Incheon International Airport for Vladivostok the following morning. There we had time to think about the Korean-Russian relationship in the 21^st century and the state of peace in Northeast Asia while seeing historical sites of the Korea Independence Movement from the late 19^th century to the early 20^th century, downtown, and naval ports. On July 23, we visited the Korean education center in Vladivostok to interact with Russian students learning the Korean language and looked around downtown, which the students enjoyed doing.

We visited Razdolnoye Station from which ethnic Koreans were forcibly deported to Central Asia in 1937 and we felt the sorrows of unfortunate people. In Ussuriysk, there were opportunities to see traces of the Korean people and Balhae history by visiting Goryeo Culture Center, the memorial of independence fighter Choi Jae-hyeong, the Yi Sang-seol monument, and Balhae’s ruined castle.

The Siberian Railway, which departed from Ussuriysk at 11 p.m., July 23 and arrived in Khabarovsk at 8 a.m. July 24 left students with unforgettable memories. The railway was the route of the special envoy to The Hague and a stronghold for our independence fighters and for units of volunteer soldiers who carried out a joint struggle with the Red Army, a group of revolutionaries during the 1917-21 Russian Revolution. When considering potential possibilities that the railway could be home to if linked to the Korean railway via North Korea, it evoked a sense of hope for the future.

In Khabarovsk, we followed the tracks of Ms. Kim Alexandra who had been known as the first Korean socialist and we visited the central market. We also got the chance to visit the Folk Museum and view the vast Amur River. This river forms the border with China and the Zhenbao Island (Damansky Island in Russian) where China and the Soviet Union clashed in 1969, was visible here.

On the afternoon of July 24, we went to China’s northeastern city of Harbin aboard a passenger airplane from Khabarovsk. We visited the memorial of Patriotic Marty Ahn Jung-geun the next day to pay homage to his statue and discussed his “theory of Oriental peace.” The exhibition hall of evidence of Japan’s Unit 731 seemed to shock students. They shuddered at the brutality of the Japanese military’s biological warfare unit. In the afternoon that day, we took China’s high-speed train from Harbin to Dunhua, near the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, and went to Erdaobaihe, near Baekdusan Mountain, by bus. The journey was an opportunity to see first-hand China’s recent development.

In the morning of July 26, we made a long-awaited climb to Cheonji at the top of Baekdusan Mountain. Many Chinese people were also on their way to Baekdusan Mountain despite the bad weather. To our lament, however, it was raining and the summit was very foggy. But, despite this, students and their guiding teachers waited with patience and descended after seeing finally catching a glimpse of Cheonji.

On July 27, the sixth day, we took a high-speed train to Dandong from Shenyang. That day we sightsaw around the Yalu River Broken Bridge and the Yalu River Wooden Bridge Yuji, relics related to modern Korean history; Hushan Great Wall, a scene from Chinese history; and Yibukua, which is a very short distance away from North Korean territory. While looking at the Yalu River Broken Bridge, severed because of U.N. bombardment (November 18, 1950) during the Korean War, students saw live scenes of the Korean War, our people’s great tragedy. Students from Gyeongsangnam-do Province filled bottles with Yalu River water to take them to be united with Korean water. Students also witnessed scenes of Chinese intervention in the affairs of the Korean Peninsula while looking at the remains of the wooden bridge (which is officially called the “Yalu River Swallow’s Nest Railway Bridge”) which China hastily built in 1951 at the shallowest section of the Yalu River to support North Korea. “Hushan Great Wall” was originally where Goguryeo’s “Bakjakseong” sat; China built a Chinese-style great wall there and has been spreading the idea that the great wall was originally there. “Yibukua” is where a North Korean island exists directly next to Chinese territory because of earth and sand from the Yalu River. Crossing a small stream brings you to North Korea, but the security has become tighter as the number of North Korean defectors increased and disputes occurred on the North Korean-Chinese frontier. Students said they were surprised to learn that North Korea could be seen so closely. We moved to Dalian that night and had some time to discuss things which we had seen through student presentations and discussions.

On the morning of July 28, Sunday, the last day of our trip, we visited the Lushun district court where Patriotic Marty Ahn Jung-geun stood trial and the Lushun Prison where Ahn Jung-geun and Shin Chae-ho were imprisoned. Students were able to listen to lectures given inside the buses, on-site, and in meetings. What was especially impressive was when we visited the riverside of the Yalu River near Dandong, the border city between North Korea and China, on July 27 (it happened to be the day of the Korean War ceasefire agreement). While looking at the Yalu River Bridge, the Broken Bridge severed by U.S.-led bombings, and the remains of the wooden bridge eroding after being connected with Wihwado by China, students stated that they thought that China would not give up on intervening in the affairs of the Korean Peninsula. I could not help but to accept the fact that many students thought this was true, especially while looking at North Korea from the severed bridge. Then how could we achieve a peaceful unification? We all, including the students, will have to keep agonizing over this problem and do some real soul-searching.

Hopefully, the trip will help students grow into people of great talent armed with a love for humankind’s diversity, lofty morality, and persuasive logic, and international perspective. I earnestly hope that they will take the lead in achieving peace in East and Northeast Asia, the unification of the Korean Peninsula, and national reconciliation. I hope that this kind of project will be continuously pursued so long as the budget and personnel are available.