뉴스레터

Korean Ambassador to Kazakhstan
Baek Ju-hyeon, Executive Director of the
General Hong Bumdo Memorial Society
Lee Jong-chan and ethnic Koreans attending
the memorial ceremony at Goryeo Theater
in Almaty,the old capital of Kazakhstan,
on October 25, 2013

"Korea, Korean society, and the Korean people need to show keen interest in, and extend support for, Kazakhstan and the ethnic Koreans living there, and also go for close exchange and cooperation with them."

From October 24 to 28, 2013, I was in Kazakhstan to attend the memorial ceremony and conference on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the death of Hong Bumdo, hosted by the General Hong Bumdo Memorial Society (Executive Director Lee Jong-chan) and sponsored by the Ministry of Patriots & Veterans Affairs of Korea. It was a long journey, up to 13,000 kilometers, from Incheon International Airport to Almaty, a major city of Kazakhstan. It felt strange that ethnic Koreans were living in a country so far away. At the same time, however, it also felt like a country for us to visit at least once, because Kyzylorda in Kazakhstan was home to the grave of General Hong Bumdo, one of the most representative Korean armed fighters against Japan in the history of Korean independence movement. As an author of three published books on General Hong, I had always wanted to visit his grave, reflect on his great life, and learn about the local situation. And it so happened that the General Hong Bumdo Memorial Society would host a grand memorial ceremony and conference locally to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the death of General Hong, which gave me an opportunity to visit his grave and participate in discussion at the conference.

The NAHF is already working with many Central Asian countries, including Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, on various exchange and collaboration projects such as local survey and publication. Therefore, I was somewhat familiar with the situation there.

Hong Bumdo was born in Pyeongyang in 1868. Since his family was poor, he had to start working in his childhood as a farm servant, a low-rank soldier, a paper factory worker, and a hunter, and so on. When his country faced a crisis, he organized an army to resist imperial Japan's aggression. From 1907 to 1908, he led an artillery unit in mountainous areas in South Hamgyeong Province and confused the Japanese army with effective hit-and-run tactics, which earned him the nickname 'Flying Hong Bumdo.' He was a great commander who led the independence war, including the 1920 Bongodong and Cheongsanri Battles, to victory. Once he retired, he became a farmer with his comrades. But in 1937, Stalin's policy of deporting ethnic Koreans sent him to Kyzylorda (meaning 'Red Desert'), Kazakhstan in Central Asia, where he settled down and eventually ended his dramatic life on October 25, 1943.

Almaty, where I arrived with a company of twenty, was said to mean 'a city of apple' in the local language. With a dry yet pleasant climate, Almaty is a large city with a population of a million and active irrigated agriculture using underground water flowing in from the nearby Tian Shan mountain range. Almaty had been the capital of Kazakhstan for a long time, until recently when the country moved its capital to Astana in the north. Not far away from downtown Almaty, there was the National Goryeo Theatre run by ethnic Koreans. Although it wasn't big, the Theatre was clean and well-operated.

On October 25, 2013, a solemn memorial ceremony and conference took place from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. In the memorial ceremony in the morning, Korean Ambassador to Kazakhstan Baek Ju-hyeon and the consul general at Almaty were in attendance. The ceremony was a success, with Nikolai Kye and many other descendents of independence activists also in attendance. The grand theme of the conference was "General Hong Bumdo's Independence Movement and the Identity of the Ethnic Korean Community." The memorial ceremony and conference of that day was covered and reported by 'News 9' of KBS-1TV and other Korean media as well as local broadcast and Korean newspapers Korean Newspaper and Kazakhstan News.

A scene from play 'Hong Bumdo,'
played by ethnic Korean actors

In the night of the 25th day, the play 'Hong Bumdo' was presented on stage, for the first time in almost seventy years since 1942 when General Hong was working as a security guard for the Goryeo Theatre. Although awkward Korean was spoken in some of the lines, the play was enough to move the audience.

On October 26, 2013, we got on a domestic flight and headed to Kyzylorda, where many ethnic Koreans were living and General Hong Bumdo had lived until his death. Kyzylorda is also home to the rock singer Victor Choi (1962-1990) who was loved so much by Russians. Seen from above in the airplane, Kyzylorda was wasteland in a near-desert region. Fortunately, the Syrdaria river, which rose in Kazakhstan and flowed into the Aral Sea, was running across the region. This was what made rice farming possible.

As soon as we got off at the airport, we raced to the grave of General Hong Bumdo, which was located in the middle of a vast wilderness. Right in front of it was the grave of Kye Bong-woo (1880-1959), an independence activist and nationalistic historian. The half-length statue of General Hong Bumdo, erected in November 1984, had an effective expression of his grave yet familiar image. Local ethnic Koreans joined our company of visitors from Korea in offering flowers, commemorating the 70th anniversary of the death of General Hong Bumdo and honoring his achievements.

Ethnic Koreans in traditional Korean
costume and offering flowers to the
half-length statue of General Hong Bumdo

A majority of youths in traditional Korean costume, although some of them were of mixed ancestry, had familiar faces not unlike our own. The phrase "Blood is thicker than water" came home to me. I offered a copy of my humble book The Independence War of Hong Bumdo, the Hero of Bongodong and Cheongsanri Battles in front of General Hong's half-length statue as I prayed for his soul and for peaceful unification of my country.

The Stalin regime, which adopted oppressive policies after the Russian Revolution, called minority groups whose sovereign countries were outside Russian territory 'Diaspora peoples.' In the 1930s, the Stalin regime pushed ahead with the emigration policy. In the end, in September 1937, the 200,000 ethnic Koreans who were living in Vladivostok and other parts of the Russian Far East were suddenly deported, almost dumped, to wasteland in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, among other Central Asian countries.

But they persisted and survived. With traits unique to the Korean, such as diligence, persistence, and a strong mind, they started rice farming from scratch and began producing white rice. They surmounted all kinds of difficulties and raised their children well. And they also became faithful and contributing members of the local community.

In Kazakhstan, General Hong Bumdo was more than simply a singe independence activist; he was a symbol of the identity and pride of the entire ethnic Korean community, and an important link between the local ethnic Koreans and their homeland. In this regard, Korea, Korean society, and the Korean people need to show keen interest in, and extend support for, Kazakhstan and the ethnic Koreans living there, and also go for close exchange and cooperation with them.

The ethnic Koreans who were deported and scattered across the world are now perceived as our proud compatriots overseas. Recently, the 'Korean Diaspora' issue is emerging as an important research topic. We as Koreans should embrace them as brothers and try to heal their sufferings and traumas.