Yun Dong-ju

Life

Yun Dong-ju was born on December 30, 1917, in Myeongdong Village in North Jiandao (in present-day Jilin Province, China), the eldest son of Yun Yeong-seok and Kim Yong (also rendered Kim Ryong). Myeongdong Village was a Korean settlement founded in 1899 by a group of migrants from Hamgyong Province, among them Kim Yak-yeon. Kim later converted to Presbyterianism and became a minister, and the village grew into a Christian community centered on its church and school. When Myeongdong Church was established in 1909, Yun's grandfather, Yun Ha-hyeon, and his father became elders of the church. His mother was Kim Yak-yeon's younger sister.

After attending Myeongdong Elementary School and Eunjin Middle School in Longjing, Yun transferred in 1935 to Soongsil Middle School in Pyongyang. Around this time the school refused to take part in Shinto shrine worship, which the Japanese colonial authorities had made compulsory. In early 1936 the principal, George S. McCune (Korean name Yun San-on), had his authorization to serve as principal revoked. That spring Yun left the school together with Moon Ik-hwan, a former elementary school classmate, and others, and transferred to Gwangmyeong Middle School in Longjing. In 1938 he entered the literature department of Yonhi College, from which he graduated in December 1941.

In 1942 he went to Japan and enrolled in the English literature department of Rikkyo University, transferring later that year to Doshisha University in Kyoto. In 1943, shortly before he was to return home, he was arrested by the Japanese police on charges of anti-Japanese activities and sentenced to two years' imprisonment. He died in Fukuoka Prison on February 16, 1945, and his remains were buried in his hometown of Longjing. Some have claimed that he died as a result of medical experiments conducted on him in prison, but this has not been confirmed.

Ministry and Achievements

Yun was not a member of the clergy; his work was as a poet. He began writing poetry as a middle school student, publishing children's verse in his school's student magazine and in Catholic Youth (Katollik Sonyeon), a periodical published in Yanji. In 1941, as his graduation from Yonhi College approached, he hoped to publish a collection of poems, but those around him, fearing Japanese censorship, dissuaded him, and the plan was abandoned. The manuscript he had entrusted at that time to a younger schoolmate, Jeong Byeong-uk, survived, and after Korea's liberation it was published in 1948, together with other posthumous writings, under the title Sky, Wind, Stars, and Poetry. "Prologue" ("Seosi") is regarded as his best-known work. Several of his poems are grounded in his faith, including "The Cross," "The Eight Beatitudes," and "Until Dawn Comes." In "The Cross," he reflects on his own life in light of the crucified Jesus Christ.

Influence on the Korean Church

Within the Korean church, Yun Dong-ju is frequently described as a product of the Christian community of North Jiandao, in which faith and national consciousness were closely intertwined. His departure from Soongsil Middle School is often discussed as part of the history of Christian schools that refused Shinto shrine worship. His poems are frequently quoted in sermons, at church events, and in serialized features in Christian magazines, and around the centennial of his birth in 2017 the Christian press published a number of articles reexamining his faith.

Assessment

In 1990 the South Korean government posthumously awarded him the Order of Merit for National Foundation, Independence Medal. In 1968 a monument inscribed with his poetry was erected on the campus of Yonsei University. He is commonly called a "resistance poet." However, because his poetry gives voice to shame and self-examination rather than open struggle, interpretations differ on how this label should be understood. Christian circles often read his works as poems of faith, whereas literary scholarship tends to treat his faith as one of several influences and to consider the existential and national dimensions of his work as well.