INTERVIEW
Looking for the Footprints of Lost History:
Documentary Photographer kim dongwoo
If the traces and remains of the Korean independence movement, scattered all over the world, are merely used as tourist attractions or are only known to people in the respective neighborhoods, it would be difficult to claim that we have properly paid respects as descendants. We sat down with documentary photographer kim dongwoo, who captures traces and places of the independence movement that would have otherwise remained unknown.
Hello. Please say hi to the readers of the ASEAN Culture House Monthly.
Nice to meet you. I’m kim dongwoo, and I’m a documentary photographer. After living a traveler’s life for a while, I happened to learn that the Red Fort in India’s capital, Delhi, was a training ground for the Korean Liberation Army. It was a strange experience that gave me goose bumps. Thereafter, I started looking into the lives of independence activists, and since 2017, I am visiting historic sites related to the independence movement that are scattered around the world and record them in photos and writing. So far, this effort has taken me to 11 countries, including China, Cuba, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, Russia, the USA, and Uzbekistan.
What made you take photographs of these historic independence sites?
When I seriously thought about my life’s purpose, all that remained was the word “happiness.”Since I have only one life, I wanted to be happy. So I resigned from my job and got on a plane to travel around the world. That got me interested in documentary work, and then I came across the Red Fort in India, a site of the Korean independence movement in a foreign country. This encounter with history in the real world, not in a textbook, was a watershed moment for me.
Are there any Korean independence sites or activities by independence movement groupsin ASEAN countries that we should know about?
There is, for instance, Mandalay Palace, located in Mandalay, Myanmar, the city where the Korean Liberation Army’s Liaison Unit, which participated in World War II, made advances as they helped the British. But because these facts are not widely known, most Koreans who visit Mandalay pass it by during their journey.Among the independent movement groups, there was the “Koryo Young People’s Party for Independence”that was active in Indonesia. This was an anti-Japanese independence movement group formed in December 1944 on Java, Indonesia, by Korean youth who had been mobilized as civilian workers in the military. At the time, the Koreans in Indonesia were forcefully mobilized as guards for Allied POWs, but the Japanese would not let them return home even after their terms were over. As a result, young Koreans then created an underground group and launched a local independence movement.
Would you like to deliver a message for the descendants who will learn about this lesser known history of the independence movement through your photos?
I hope you will remember it. When such memories come together, they will provide an impetus to rewrite history.
KOREA FOUNDATION
