[Joseonggwan's Global Humanities Journey] Why Was Yun Dong-ju Born in Manju and Buried in Manju?

Masuo Omura (大村益夫·1933~2023), an emeritus professor at Waseda University in Japan who passed away last January, was a scholar who dedicated his life to the study of Korean literature. Recently, according to the wishes of the late Professor Omura, his family decided to donate over 20,000 pieces of materials related to Korean literature to the National Korean Literature Museum in Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul.

Professor Omura is regarded as one of Japan's leading researchers on Yun Dong-ju. In the April 29 issue of "World Humanities Travel," I wrote about the Japanese people's 'love for Yun Dong-ju,' mentioning in detail the roles of poets Noriko Ibaragi (茨木のり子) and Go Ibuki (伊吹鄕). What sets Professor Omura apart from Ibaragi Noriko, Ibuki Go, and others is that he delved into Yun Dong-ju academically. He authored more than ten papers and books related to Yun Dong-ju, including the "Yun Dong-ju Autograph Poetry Collection." One fact we should pay attention to is that in 1985, he discovered Yun Dong-ju's neglected grave in Longjing (龍井), Yanbian Autonomous Prefecture, China.

[Joseonggwan's Global Humanities Journey] Why Was Yun Dong-ju Born in Manju and Buried in Manju?

Professor Masuo Omura in 2022.

Yun Dong-ju died on February 16, 1945, in Fukuoka Prison. When this news was telegraphed to his home in Yongjeong, his father Yun Young-seok went to Fukuoka to retrieve his son's remains and returned to Yongjeong.

How did Yun Young-seok travel from Yongjeong to Fukuoka? It was not like today, where one can fly there in three or four hours. Looking at the map, the journey seems daunting. This route was also the path Yun Dong-ju took when he studied in Japan.

At that time, the closest train station to Yongjeong was Sangsam-bong (上三峯) Station on Korean territory by the Tumen River. Sangsam-bong is a small town in Jongsong County, North Hamgyong Province. Along the Tumen River, which originates from Baekdu Mountain, villages such as Sambong, Sangsam-bong, and Hasam-bong were established. Sangsam-bong Station was the terminus of the Hamgyeong Line starting from Wonsan. The father boarded the Hamgyeong Line following his son's study route and went down to Wonsan. From Wonsan, he transferred to the Gyeongwon Line train heading to Gyeongseong (Seoul). (The Gyeongwon Line, opened in 1915, was the train Jung Ju-young took twice when he ran away from his hometown Tongcheon to Gyeongseong.) At Seoul Station, he transferred again to the Gyeongbu Line. This was before the era of Saemaeul-ho or KTX trains. The Hamgyeong, Gyeongwon, and Gyeongbu Lines were local trains similar to the Pigeon Train. After arriving at Busan Station, he boarded the Bugwan (釜關) ferry, crossed the Korea Strait overnight, and arrived at Shimonoseki early the next morning.

The father crossed the Korea Strait holding the wooden box containing his son's remains close to his chest. He then retraced his route, using the Gyeongbu Line, Gyeongwon Line, and Hamgyeong Line to get off at Sangsam-bong Station. The journey took at least three days. His mother Kim Yong and siblings Hye-won, Il-ju, and Gwang-ju went to meet him at Sangsam-bong Station, which was two hundred ri away from their home.

"From there, I took the remains from my father's arms and crossed the long Tumen River bridge. On a very cold and cloudy day at the end of February, the Tumen River bridge seemed so long. Everyone silently comforted their own grief without saying a word. For my brother Dong-ju, it was the bridge where he bid farewell to his beloved homeland for the last time." ('The Life of Yun Dong-ju' by Yun Il-ju)

The funeral was held on March 6 in the yard of their home amid a snowstorm. Then, on the Dano Festival in May when the ground thawed, the father erected a tombstone in front of his son's grave. On February 16, 1946, Yun Young-seok held a grand first anniversary memorial for his son as if giving him away in marriage. Shortly after, Yun Young-seok sent his nineteen-year-old son Il-ju down to liberated Seoul, Korea. (See "World Humanities Travel," August 19, 2023)

In 1985, Professor Omura went to Yongjeong in Manchuria and found Yun Dong-ju's grave. He paid his respects at the grave exactly 40 years after Yun Dong-ju's passing. In 1985, before the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and China, Koreans could hardly imagine visiting China.

Yun Dong-ju's Birthplace in Myeongdong Village Recently Closed by China
Photo by Yonhap News

After diplomatic relations were established, as the number of visitors to Yun Dong-ju's birthplace in Myeongdong Village increased, China erected a commemorative stone in front of the birthplace inscribed with "Birthplace of the Joseonjok Patriotic Poet Yun Dong-ju." Since then, Myeongdong Village has become a must-visit spot for Korean tourists. Last summer, China suddenly closed Yun Dong-ju's birthplace.

Yun Dong-ju was born on December 30, 1917, in Myeongdong Village, Northern Gando. His parents, Yun Young-seok and Kim Yong, who married in 1910, lost their first child and had no fetal movement for a while before Yun Dong-ju was born late. The couple later had one daughter and two more sons.

Yun Young-seok lived with his father Yun Ha-hyun. With Yun Dong-ju's birth, three generations lived together in Yun Ha-hyun's house. Notably, Yun Young-seok's younger sister (Yun Shin-young) married Song Chang-hee and briefly lived in the same house. This couple gave birth to a son, Song Mong-gyu, in September 1917.

For a long time, we called the Manchurian land across the Tumen River "Gando (間島)." North Hamgyong Province is the most barren region on the Korean Peninsula. There is no farmland to be found even after a thorough search. The people of North Hamgyong have been impoverished for generations. Those burdened by poverty longed for the fertile lands across the Tumen River.

Manchuria is the homeland of the Manchu people who founded the Qing Dynasty. The Qing regarded Manchurian land as sacred and prohibited foreigners from entering. Korea, conscious of the Qing, forbade Koreans from crossing the Tumen River, punishing violators under the "Crossing the River Crime" (월강죄). However, no law can overcome hunger. The people of North Hamgyong devised a ruse, claiming they were going to the island in the middle of the river (間島) to enter Manchurian land. Taking advantage of the Qing's weakened administrative power, many Koreans crossed the river and settled in Manchuria. By today's standards, this was illegal immigration. Over time, Korean villages naturally formed. (This is the origin of the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture.)

Yun Young-seok's grandfather also migrated from North Hamgyong to Northern Gando during the late Joseon period. The grandfather farmed white beans and, through diligence, soon accumulated wealth. By the time of Yun Ha-hyun, the Yun family had established itself as a prominent family in Myeongdong Village.

Until before 1909, the people of Myeongdong Village faithfully followed Confucian customs. This changed in 1909 when Christianity spread. Women began to have their own names and included the character 'Shin (信),' meaning faith, in their names to signify belief in Jesus. By 1917, when Yun Dong-ju was born, Myeongdong Village had become a Christian village. Yun Dong-ju also received infant baptism. Every Sunday, over 200 people gathered at the church to sing hymns.

Looking at Manchuria in 1917, the year Yun Dong-ju was born, from a global historical perspective: until before World War I, Manchuria was Europe's granary. European countries consumed Manchurian white beans. Two months before Yun Dong-ju's birth, the Bolshevik Communist Revolution occurred. The Eurasian continent was gradually turning red, advancing eastward from Saint Petersburg in the west. White Russians and the Czechoslovak Legion, opposing the Bolsheviks, fought battles and moved eastward.

Northern Gando, centered around Myeongdong Village and Yongjeong, became a base for armed independence movements after the March 1st Movement in 1919. The Battle of Bongodong in June 1920 and the Battle of Cheongsanri in October were the peaks. The independence fighters, who bought modern weapons cheaply from the Czechoslovak Legion waiting for a ship home in Vladivostok, were able to defeat the regular Japanese army.

After suffering defeats at Bongodong and Cheongsanri, Japan suppressed Koreans in Manchuria and launched operations to eliminate armed independence fighters. As Gando fell under Japanese control, most armed independence fighters fled to Svobodny (also known as Jayu-si), Russian territory. In June 1921, the armed independence fighters were disarmed and massacred in Svobodny.

Communism entered Northern Gando in 1929. This was the result of those who became communists in Soviet Svobodny returning home and spreading communist ideology. Yun Dong-ju's uncle (Song Chang-hee) became a communist and promoted the establishment of a people's school, with Song Mong-gyu assisting his father.

Why did the prominent Yun family decide to leave Myeongdong Village? They were fed up with the atrocities and terrorism of the Communist Party. In the fall of 1931, the Yun family sold their property and moved to Yongjeong, where many Koreans lived.

In 1932, Japan established the puppet state of Manchukuo. Legal control of Manchuria shifted from the Qing and Republic of China to Japan. At Gwangmyeong Middle School in Yongjeong, classes were conducted only in Japanese. Yun Dong-ju learned English, Korean, Manchu, and Japanese while nurturing his dream of becoming a poet. In 1938, he was admitted to the Department of Literature at Yeonhui College, which he had long dreamed of.

In 1990, I traveled for ten days on a company training program through Changchun, Yanji, Baekdu Mountain, and Beijing. On the way to Baekdu Mountain, I set foot on Yongjeong land. The impression from that time remains vivid to this day.

It is not incorrect for China to refer to Yun Dong-ju as a "Joseonjok Patriotic Poet." He is indeed a Joseonjok poet, one of the ethnic minorities in China. However, China suddenly closed his birthplace because it did not like Korea. Why close the birthplace of a Joseonjok poet? China may be large in size, but its actions are petty and trivial, showing a small-mindedness.