What They Said is a weekly series on the quotes behind the headlines.
Lately, South Korea has been embroiled in an ideological debate over a historical figure: General Hong Beom-do. Born in present-day North Korea in 1868, Hong was a professional hunter who became an independence activist and a military general known for his shooting skills. After Japan’s colonization of Korea in 1910, he sought asylum in Manchuria, where he trained soldiers for the Independence Army. He returned to Korea in 1919 as the leader of the Gando (present-day Jiandao, China) branch of the Korean Independence Army and fought against Japan. In the 1920s, he settled down in Primorsky Krai, but was forced to relocate to Kazakhstan due to Stalin’s decision to deport Koreans from the Russian Far East, since Koreans at the time were subjects of the Empire of Japan, an enemy of the Soviet Union. He lived in Kazakhstan until his death in 1943. In 2021, his remains were brought back to South Korea and buried at the Daejeon National Cemetery.
The current controversy began on August 25 when the Korea Military Academy (KMA) announced that it was reviewing the removal of the busts of six heroes of the Independence Army and the Liberation Army and considering relocating them to the Independence Hall of Korea, or somewhere else outside of the academy campus.[1]
When asked about the news at the National Assembly’s National Defense Committee meeting on August 25, Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup confirmed the KMA’s decision:
“The important thing is… there is someone who joined Communism, the Communist party. And someone who joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.”
[2]
— Lee Jong-sup, Aug 25, 2023
Three days later, on August 28, the Ministry of Defense also announced that it was considering removing the bust of General Hong Beom-do from in front of the Ministry of Defense building located in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.
The person who sowed the seeds of the controversy was Shin Won-sik, a National Assembly member for the People Power Party. During the National Assembly’s inspection of government offices in 2022, Shin said:
“While General Hong Beom-do did achieve recognition during the Battle of Bongo-dong (Fengwudong in Chinese) in Manchuria, he played a key role in wiping out the Korean Army for National Independence in the Free City Disaster[3]. It’s questionable why there was a need to make a bust of a man who became part of the Soviet military, more or less, and place it at the KMA.”
[4]
— Shin Won-sik
Academics have since objected to Shin’s statement about Hong Beom-do’s involvement in the Free City Disaster. Poet Lee Dong-sun, who studied Hong Beom-do for over 40 years, explained that Hong wasn’t present in Svobodny at the time of the Free City Disaster and that his joining the Soviet Union’s Communist Party was an effort to use the Soviet Union’s military power to fight against Imperial Japan, which had colonized Korea.
The Yoon Suk Yeol administration is in support of the removal of the busts. While the ruling party, the People Power Party, is divided, the opposition parties have all expressed their objections.
On August 27, Lee Jong-chan, the head of Heritage for Korean Independence, an organization that promotes the history of the Korean independence movement and supports the descendants of independence activists, wrote a public letter to the defense minister, berating the decision to remove the busts:
“…6. Let me provide a detailed explanation to enlighten you about General Hong Beom-do. Hong Beom-do had an unhappy childhood as a servant. He barely survived, serving as a bugler at the Pyeongyang Garrison, as a young Buddhist monk, and a sawmill worker, and later joined the independence movement as a soldier for a righteous army.
He earned recognition by engaging in 37 battles against the Japanese forces and decided to align with the Soviet Union’s Communist Party, thinking that it would be practical to engage in armed struggle in the Russian Far East (Vladivostok region). He continued to achieve distinction, even earning military merit at the battles in Cheongsan-ri and Bongo-dong. He suffered during the Free City Disaster. It is also true that he served as a judge to give an advantage to the Korean independence forces during this period. In 1922, he participated in the Comintern’s Congress of the Peoples of the East. However, he was eventually forced to relocate to Central Asia by Stalin and passed away in Kzyl-Orda, Kazakhstan.
In October 1962, under President Park Chung-hee, he was posthumously awarded the Order of Merit for National Foundation, 2nd Class (Presidential Medal). I initiated the General Hong Beom-do Memorial Project and worked toward repatriating his remains, but didn’t succeed as North Korea was opposed.
North Korea had portrayed Kim Il-sung as the supreme leader of the armed independence struggle, and therefore it was difficult for them to bring back General Hong Beom-do’s remains, as General Hong’s achievements were far more significant. Instead, North Korea obstructed our repatriation efforts and didn’t bring back General Hong’s remains themselves.
Then, during the Kazakh president’s state visit in 2021, the repatriation of General Hong Beom-do’s remains was finally achieved. In this context, depicting General Hong Beom-do as a communist and removing his bust would ultimately serve the interests of North Korea.
Frankly, is North Korea a communist country? It is a monarchy. …
The Heritage of Korean Independence will not condone your actions, if you proceed with this revisionist decision in the current unreasonable state, where those who sacrificed their lives for the sake of our nation are belittled while those who happened to be lucky are praised. We cannot help but ask, for which country are you the Minister of Defense, as such a decision goes against our national conscience.
If you lack the ability to make sound judgments, we advise you that it would be best for the Republic of Korea for you to step down from your position as Minister of Defense. We await your final decision.”[5]
— Lee Jong-chan, president of Heritage for Korean Independence, August 27, 2023
A recent public poll indicated that 65.9% of the respondents were against the removal of the busts, while 22.1% were for the removal. Former president Moon Jae-in has also spoken up against the current administration’s decision, with the Office of the President responding that a former president becoming too involved in the issue was the problem.
The controversy will likely continue, as most of the country seem opposed to the removal of the busts, with even the right–leaning media criticizing the KMA and the Ministry of Defense’s position.
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