South Korea said Wednesday it has reopened an exhibition hall in China honoring a prominent independence fighter against Japan’s colonial rule in the early 1900s.
The memorial hall in the Lu Xun Park in Shanghai is dedicated to Yun Bong-gil, a Korean who killed two high-ranking Japanese officials and wounded several others by setting off a bomb during the birthday celebration of the Japanese emperor in the Chinese city on April 29, 1932.
Yun was executed in December of the same year at the age of 25. The Korean Peninsula was under harsh colonial rule by Japan from 1910-45.
“After renovation work and changing some articles on display, we reopened the hall today marking the 83rd anniversary of Yun’s deed,” the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs said in a release.
The two-story hall, first established in 2003, displays diverse printed and video materials and photos that well depict his life and the circumstances of his time.
“I will strive to turn the place into the symbol of friendship between South Korea and China, and encourage more people to visit here,” MPVA minister Park Sung-choon said in his congratulatory speech during the ceremony, hailing the facility as the achievement of close bilateral cooperation.
China also suffered under Japanese rule with some parts of the country being occupied by imperial soldiers in the early 20th century.
The ceremony that took place in Shanghai was attended by some 200 people including a 15-member Seoul government delegation, leaders in the local government and residents. Following the ceremony, Park met with local leaders and expressed gratitude for their support, according to the ministry.
The renovation of the exhibition hall is the latest in a series of joint projects by South Korea and China on their shared history in an apparent slap in the face to Japan.
Last year, China built a memorial for a prominent Korean independence hero, Ahn Jung-geun, who assassinated the Korean Peninsula’s first Japanese governor-general, Hirobumi Ito, in the northeastern city of Harbin in 1909. It also unveiled a stone monument honoring Korean independence soldiers in the city of Xian. (Yonhap)
