A monument honoring Yun Dong-ju was erected on the campus of Rikkyo University, his alma mater in Tokyo, on the 11th. There are monuments to Yun in Doshisha University and the city of Kyoto, but this is known to be the first Yun Dong-ju-related stele built in Tokyo.
The monument, established near Building No. 14 on the west side of Rikkyo University, features a photo of Yun Dong-ju, a short text explaining his life at Rikkyo, and his poem "Easily Written Poem" with a Japanese translation.
While enrolled at Rikkyo University, Yun Dong-ju wrote pure and lyrical poems, and the originals of five poems written on Rikkyo University stationery printed with a lily pattern are preserved at the Yun Dong-ju Memorial Hall at Yonsei University.
Rikkyo University President Nishihara Renta said at the unveiling ceremony that day, "After 80 years, the poet Yun Dong-ju has returned to Rikkyo University," adding, "Most of the poems Yun left during his studies in Japan have been lost, but the five poems he entrusted to a friend miraculously survived."
He continued, "It is known that Yun Dong-ju interacted with priests during his time at the university, and it is said the priests' residence was near the stele," adding, "We will continue to pass on the poet Yun Dong-ju's teachings on peace and life."
Yun Dong-ju's nephew, Yun In-seok, an emeritus professor at Sungkyunkwan University, said in his greeting, "In Japan, efforts have continued to seek the truth about the poet who died in prison while studying abroad, and there has been a movement oriented toward peace and reconciliation and correcting past wrongs," expressing gratitude.
Yun said, "There is a monument to Yun Dong-ju in Kyoto, and in Fukuoka, where he died in prison, a group that reads Yun Dong-ju's poems has been ongoing," adding, "With the establishment of the Rikkyo University monument, all the physical foundations to honor the poet Yun Dong-ju have been put in place."
He added, "I hope the monument becomes a starting point for creating a clear and peaceful world and is passed on to the younger generation."
While attending Doshisha University, Yun Dong-ju was arrested by Japanese police in 1943 on suspicion of engaging in a student group discussing Korea's independence, and he died in Fukuoka Prison on Feb. 16, 1945, six months before liberation.
Lee Hyuk, Korea's ambassador to Japan, said, "I hope this monument, unveiled this year, the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan, will go beyond honoring Yun Dong-ju's literature and life and serve as a bridge leading to reconciliation and cooperation between the two countries."
Rikkyo University has roots as a school founded by Anglican missionaries. The unveiling ceremony was conducted in the form of a worship service, and participants offered flowers at the end.
The priest who presided over the event prayed, "As we mark 80 years since defeat in the Pacific War, we remember all those who were sacrificed because of the wrongs Japan committed in the past, and we especially engrave the poet Yun Dong-ju in our hearts," adding, "Through the poems of justice he left, let us learn a correct understanding of history and deep reflection."
Before the unveiling ceremony, the Korea Education Foundation, which runs scholarship programs for ethnic Koreans in Japan, and Rikkyo University's Center for Foreign Language Education and Research held a poetry reading and poetry-painting contest under the name "Rikkyo's autumn with the poet Yun Dong-ju."
In Japan, Yun Dong-ju also became widely known when writer Ibaraki Noriko quoted the poem "The heavens, the wind, the stars and the poem" in an essay included in a 1996 high school textbook.