-윤길상 재미동포전국연합회 회장 추모사-                                                                                 편집국  2014-05-27

 

윤길상 재미동포전국연합회 중앙회장은 5월 23일 선우학원 고문의 추모식에서 추모사를 하였다.

 

선우학원 고문은 박식한 분, 남을 배려하는 분, 사려깊은 분, 진보적인 학자며 운동가, 항상 배우는 선생, 수많은 책과 기사의 저자였지만, 무엇보다 그는 조국의 자주통일을 위한 신실하고도 확고한 신념을 소유한 애국자였으며, 특별한 시기에 하늘이 준 선구자적인 사명을 일생동안 성실히 수행하셨던 분이라고 윤 회장은 추모하였다. 이에 그의 추모사 전문을 개제한다.

In Memory of Dr. Harold Hak Won Sunoo,

An Outstanding Korean-American Patriot

for the Liberation and Reunification of his Homeland

  

Kil Sang Yoon

 

   We have gathered together to mourn and celebrate a remarkable life of Dr. Hak Won Sunoo!

 

We are here • to remember a child of an aristocratic and patriotic family inherited with landed wealth, flagship family in the Sunoo Clan Village in the coastal area of South Pyongan Provicne of Korea.

• to remember the one who has become a spouse of late Helen Sonia Shin, father of Jung-Min and Jung-Cooke, grandfather of David, Grant and Lesley, and great grandfather of children!

 As we have come together, condolence letters have been received from:

• Committee for Aiding Overseas Compatriot, Pyongyang, DPRK
• National Committee of Implementing 6.15 Joint Declaration, DPRK Side
• National Committee of Implementing 6.15 Joint Declaration, Overseas Side
• those of China, Japan, Germany, and Canada
• DPRK Permanent Mission at the United Nations 
• More than one hundred persons from Canada, China, Japan, South Korea,
• Germany and the US.

 

Also, flower wreaths are reveived from

• the Committee for Aiding Overseas Compatriot,  
• the DPRK Permanent Missions at the UN,
• the Friends of the Progressive, LA
• Jaju Shibo Internet News of Korea and the Minjok Tongshin Internet News.

 

At the demise of sovereignty of Korea by the imperial Japan, his grandfather left homeland for the US in seeking Independence overseas, his own father lost his life in participating at the Nationwide Uprising on March 1st 1919, where 33 Korean Delegates declared and claimed Independence of Korea.

 

One year old Hak Won was reared up by his dedicated mother, who has nurtured him with loving care and demanding accountability – discipline to become an unswerving patriotic person!

 

The adventurous mother, the daughter-in-law of a diginifying family in feudal Korea, broke the restrictive mores of the time and moved to the city of Pyongyang for the sake of son’s education beginning menial jobs to secure support her son. And she sought the strength and guidance in her relationship with God introduced by the Christian faith community.

 

In the Judeo-Christian heritage, the ground of all beings and moving force of the universe has been named as God - the Sacred Reality which is offering loving support and demanding accountability from all individual persons and collective decision-making of human community.

 

When the righteous and just order of the inter-personal, inter-communal and iner-national relations is broken by the hubris of one person or one group of persons within a nation and international level, some persons and groups of persons are inspired and urged by the Divine to restore the wholeness, harmony and just peace among people and nations by healing the brokenness and injustice in local, regional and global scale.

 

The passage of the Book of Isaiah we heard was uttered by a person called-out by the Divine in the critical time when the so-called “God’s chosen people” were in exile in Babylon. They were humiliated, crushed and hopeless.  Their dignity and pride as God’s chosen were totally destroyed as the captives of foreign power. 

 

Under such crisis, the people were encouraged with the primordial vision of the creation for them to restore their liberation-independence, peace and justice for themselves and for all the inhabitant of the earth!

 

Now, with such encouragement, the Divine does not work alone as a magician but only with the responding people’s participation to rectify the wrong and restore harmony and peace with justice. Let’s hear this call of the Divine for anyone to hear and respond to be a servant to bring back the righteousness and just peace in this world of brute force of militarism and econmic manipulation producing inequality and oppression in human community:

           

            “Here is my servant, whom I strengthen

            the one I have chosen, with whom I am pleased.

            I have filled him with my spirit,

            and he will bring justice to every nation.

            He will not shout or raise his voice

            Or make loud speeches in the streets.

            He will not break off a bent reed

            Nor put out a flickering lamp.

            He will bring lasting justice to all.

            He will not lose hope or courage;

            He will establish justice on the earth.

            Distant lands eagerly wait for his teaching.”

            Book of Isaiah 42: 1-4

 

In this passage, I have been able to trace the image of the one whom we remember today!

 

Hak Won Sunoo did not let a particular one or someone else to do the job as the only servant of the Divine call. But, he has taken seriously the Call and responded to be one of God’s servants:

 

• In the critical time in the specific historical contexts of Korea under the Japanese Imperial occupation,
• in the slum life of Koreans in Tsukimi Garbage Dump as a theological student at Aoyama Gakuin, Tokyo, Japan,
• in the formidable racial discrimination within the US society experiencing the     discrepancy between stated ideals of the country and its actual practices,
• and seeing the disappointing practices of the Communism in Czechoslovakia in its early stage in 1949.

 

As a young man, when Hak Won found persons and institutes talking one thing and walking other way – seeing discrepancy between the stated ideals and actual practices, instead of giving up in disappointment, he was rather determined to keep integrity by walking the talk and to act according to the ideals.

 

Hak Won Sunoo further has adopted a series of specific goals of his life as a patriotic member of Korea in the US.  He has taken the work orders which were envisioned by the prophet Isaiah and taken by the young carpenter from Nazareth:

           

            “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

            because he has chosen me to bring good news to the poor.

            He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives

            And recovery of sight to the blind,

            To set free the oppressed

            And announce that the time has come

            When the Lord will save his people.” 

            Luke 4: 18-19

 

Mother’s Influence was crucial for the formation of a child’s core values!

For Hak Won to become how and what he has been and done, the influencing role of his mother was crucial. She was the first and primary teacher for her child!  And her influence has laid firm values, attitude and guiding principles in the heart and mind of young child to become who he would have been and what he would have been able to do for a century long life of services!

 

As a little child he could not understand why he did not have father. And one day he was teased by the school mates, “Where is your father? Were you fallen from the heaven?” and so on so. He came home and confronted his mom asking “Mom! Why don’t I have father?”

 

Let’s hear what Dr. Sunoo has written in reminiscence in his book, “Search for Freedom, 2004: pp 45-46 about his father’s absence told by his mother at the age of seven.

 

“Your honorable father died for Korea.” my mother said softly with dignity in her voice.

           

“My dear mother, I don’t understand. Why for Korea?” I was puzzled.

 

“Your father was a Korean patriot who gave his life for his country.” Her voice was heavy, unmistakably proud.

           

“A patriot?” I frowned.

 

“Yes, my dear son. Look here, in this family chest I have something to show you. Understand, now, it’s very confidential. Under these family belongings I have hidden this flag. This is the Tai-kuk-ki, the flag of Korea, our national flag.” She explained.

 

“I have never seen the flag before. It is Korean national flag, why don’t we display this flag instead of hiding it?”

 

“The Japanese have forbidden us to display this flag in public. To even possess it means death.”

 

“Death? How come?”

 

“Yes, my son. You see, dearest one, the flag you see in the school is a Japanese flag. That is not the Korean flag.” She explained cautiously.

 

“Did my father died because he possessed this flag?”

 

“Yes, my son, he possessed it and he died defending it.” Her voice was firm and moored as an anchored ship.

           

“Your honorable father died for what this flag means to his fellow countrymen. He was killed by those who now rule our land. Your father was one of the patriots who led Korean Independence, Mansei Movement to free our country from this Japanese rule. He, like the rest of us, wanted to be free. He wanted all the things that free men want. Above all, he wanted you to understand now and ever that you must follow in his footsteps. Then, someday, you will live to see our beloved land free from the present tyranny. When our country regains its independence, our nation will be free again. Until that time, you have to fight for that.”

 

I listen to what Mother had to say and asked,

           

“Independence? What is that?”

 

“Independence, well, it is liberation. Independence is liberation. That’s it, liberation. Do you understand why your father died and you must carry on his mission? He died for this flag. My son, you must promise me now that you will be first and always, above all else --- a Korean patriot.” She stressed the point with full vigor.

 

“I promise, Mother. I’ll be a good Korean patriot for you and Father.” Mother wiped away my tears gently and hugged me tightly. Then she touched my hair with her soft fingers. I began to be glad that it had happened, not because of Father’s death, but his honorable death. I understood, as time went on, the meaning of “Man should die honorable,” a frequent comment of Mother’s. This was my first lesson in patriotism, and my mother never relaxed a moment in her careful training of me. She constantly reminded herself that she was a strict disciplinarian and had no sympathy for wrong-doing.

 

As such, his mother provided him unfailingly loving care, and also demanded accountability of his life. Imagine, if his mom had ever just loved him and never asked him to be accountable – responsible to his daily life, young Hak Won might have been a spoiled kid. But, because of his mother’s upbringing in her son’s early stage, he has become such a disciplined patriotic person without swerving his principles and direction of his life!

 

At his arrival at Los Angeles in 1938, he has joined others to work for the Independence of Korea in supporting the armed struggles in Manchuria.

 

Hak Won Sunoo never gave up pursuing his beliefs and ideal principles in spite of some people’s failures of not doing what they talk about. Rather, such individual and collective failures have caused him be further determined to continue the work of rectifying the wrong by helping others see something different ways through education, persuasion, negotiation, and joining collective movement of protesting.

 

In order to be faithful to the ideal principles for the common good for all, he dared to take sides with minority - the progressive force even enduring the harassment, intimation and the repercussion of the established order of the time!  That’s how he lost his teaching job and doctorate degree at the University of Washington after teaching several years! 

 

No sooner than the liberation of Korea had come at the end of WWII, Korea was partitioned by the US and USSR.

 

Then on he has devoted his time and energy for healing the wounds inflicted upon the Koreans by the division and war; for reconciling the differences; for enhancing mutual understanding and respect through cooperation, dialogues, and exchanges. He played key roles in various organizations and their activities:

 

• In late 1979 a Pan Korean Forum on National Reunification began and he was the    major force to continue it in Japan and the US over ten years;
• In 1981 he initiated the dialogue between overseas Korean and North Korean Christians held in Europe and continued for 10 years. this dialogues have opened channel for exchange to promote mutual understanding and respect;
• In 1994 Dr. Sunoo and I with Dr. John Swormley of St. Paul School of Theology, Kansas City, MO, organized “American Committee on Korea” with 33 distinguished leaders from the academia, religious communities, journalists in the US;
• The Harold and Sonia Sunoo Peace in Korea Foundation with life time savings to support the work of Korea Peace Advocacy;
• He even presented his opinions in writings and lectured periodically till the recent months in English and Korean.

 

He has kept the promise he had made with his mother in his early age to be a patriot for Korea and wherever he would go!

 

Indeed, he has inherited rich characteristics of Korean aristocracy from his family. However, he did not just stay aloof as a privileged person but devoted his life to do his obligation as a “noble” to embody those values in the communal, national and international life! 

 

His values, personal characters - inner strength of thoughts and perspectives, and prudent manner of doing - have been upheld, broadened, strengthened, and polished through the years as his personal hallmarks to be how he would have been and to do what he would have done as a life-long Korean patriot.

 

He is a sage, caring person with thoughtfulness, progressive scholar and activist, constant learner and teacher, prolific author of books and articles, and above all, a most faithful and unswerving patriot for the Independently reunified homeland of his!

 

He has done faithfully his roles as a servant. And, as he encountered the vision of the Divine for the needs of particular times, he responded to the call to be a faithful harbinger

     

        “to bring good news to the poor

        to proclaim liverty to the captives

        And recovery of sight to the blind,

        To set free the oppressed

        and announce that the time has come

        when the Divine of justice and love will save all people.”

 

He has left a huge role for us to take and continue!

He has left awesome legacy as a Korean American Patriot!

It is our turn to carry the common task and works to heal and restore oneness in our homeland, and wherever the people suffered the fractured life!

 

Don’t you want to be liberated from whatever might have enslaved you?

Don’t you want to have new sight to see the world reality without any prejudices?

Don’t you want to share this kind of metamorphosis - inner and outer changes in you with others?

 

Yes! I do want!

 

Thank you, my teacher, mentor and paragon! I will miss you much, Dr. Harold Hak Won Sunoo!

 

Affectionately yours,

 

Kil Sang

 

May 23, 2015