Exclusive Choi Sun-ae's "Brother" Song Monument Project Gains Momentum

Thump-a-thump, thump the rail bird cries in the rice field

Cuckoo-cuckoo, cuckoo the bird cries in the forest

My older brother rode his horse to Seoul

Saying he would bring back silk shoes

Honk-honk the wild geese come from the north

Cricket-cricket the cricket cries sadly

No word from the older brother who went to Seoul

Only tree leaves flutter down.

[News S=Reporter Lee Min-jung] The project to establish a song monument for Choi Sun-ae, a national folk song composer born in Suwon, has begun in earnest.

The Promotion Committee for the "Brother" Song Monument (Chairman: Kim Jun-ki, President of the Suwon Poets Association) held a meeting on the 4th at the Hwaseong Museum Cafe and decided to hold the monument unveiling ceremony and commemorative events on November 1st, Suwon Citizens Day.

Prior to this, in July, a lecture on "Brother" will be held at Choi Sun-ae's alma mater, Maehyang Middle and Information High School, and Samil Industrial High School with invited professor Yu Sung-ho from Hanyang University. From July to November, "Brother" content will be produced for traveling exhibitions at schools and libraries.

On November 1st, the monument unveiling ceremony will take place alongside a 100th-anniversary poetic drama performance, lectures, and chorus performances of "Brother."

At the meeting, it was decided that if construction on public land is difficult, the monument will be built on private land. Additionally, the door was opened for not just committee members but ordinary citizens to participate in the monument construction.

The promotion committee meeting was attended by Kim Jun-ki (President of the Suwon Poets Association), Choi Ho-un (Chairman of the Korean National Heritage Keepers Union and President of the Hwaseong Research Society), Han Jun-taek (Standing Director of Gyeonggi Renaissance Forum), Park Rae-hun (President of the Suwon Cultural City Forum), Kim Myung-ran (President of Maehyang Middle and Information High School Alumni Association), Cho Yi-hwa (President of Banggung-dong Merchants Association), Kim Young-kyun (Operating Chairman of the Suwon Democratization Movement Succession Project), Kim Woo-young (Editorial Director of News S), Jung Soo-ja (Poet), Park Seol-hee (Poet), Park Tae-won (CEO of Sangah T&S), and others.

In addition, the Satongpaldal Coalition (Chairman Jung Chan-hae) and the Palsaekjo Volunteer Group (Group Leader Chairman Kim Dong-woo) also pledged support for the construction.

At the meeting, participants noted that while Choi Sun-ae's brother Choi Young-ju and her husband Lee Won-su were involved in pro-Japanese activities, Choi Sun-ae herself was not a pro-Japanese collaborator. They emphasized that she should not be branded as a pro-Japanese figure through guilt by association like the Yeonseat system.

One participant stated: "The 'older brother' in the work 'Brother' by Choi Sun-ae, who was only 12 years old at the time, was simply a family member she longed to see. Moreover, Choi Young-ju, who was her older brother, was not a pro-Japanese collaborator at that time but a pioneer in the children's movement alongside Bangjeong-hwan, founder of the Bluebird publishing house. We should not apply the standard of pro-Japanese collaboration to this work."

As for her husband Lee Won-su, when he met Choi Sun-ae, he was an anti-Japanese activist who was arrested by Japanese police during the Reading Club Incident. However, after 1942, due to financial hardship, he wrote several pro-Japanese works and was listed in the Pro-Japanese Collaborators Dictionary.

Nevertheless, in 2003, Changwon City in South Gyeongsang Province established the "Hometown Spring Library" and the "Lee Won-su Literature Museum." The museum displays not only his life and literary works but also his pro-Japanese activities. Later, when Lee Won-su's children learned of this, they honestly acknowledged their father's wrongdoings on his behalf and issued a formal apology. The descendants acknowledged their predecessor's mistakes honestly and issued a public apology.

Committee members unanimously agreed that a Choi Sun-ae Literature Monument should be built. They stated: "The 'older brother' is only that older brother in our hearts," and if Suwon City does not take the lead, they will proceed with the construction centered on civic organizations.

"Since there is a song monument on Paldalsan where Lee Won-su and Hong Nan-pa composed verse and music, building the Choi Sun-ae 'Brother' Song Monument near there or in Buksudo, Choi Sun-ae's birthplace, would make for interesting storytelling," committee members argued. "The meeting of 'Brother' by Choi Sun-ae and 'Hometown Spring' by Lee Won-su would also become a story topic and could create another tourist attraction," they said.

For more details regarding the monument construction, please contact the Gyeonggi Renaissance Forum at 010-5483-5879.