After a Decade Has Passed:

People Remembering Lee Soo-Hyun

By Park Shinji (shinji917@korea.ac.kr) and Choe Yun-A (younaa90@korea.ac.kr)

10 years have passed since Lee Soo-Hyun’s death but his spirits remains. Many people still remember his courage and sacrifice up to this day. The Granite Tower (GT) met four people who are cherishing the memories of Lee Soo-Hyun.

Mr. Lee Sung-Dae and Mrs. Shin Yoon-Chan, parents of Lee Soo-Hyun

In 2001 of January 26, Lee Soo-Hyun sacrificed his life trying to save a drunken Japanese man. The news spread and both countries grieved for the loss of a young man’s life. People from all walks of life commemorated the death. Everyone was saddened and at the same time deeply touched by the spirits Lee showed by trying to save a life in an unfamiliar foreign land. Sadness pervaded the whole country but who would have been more lamented than Lee’s parents who had to bear the sudden loss of their son? His parents, whom The Granite Tower met in Busan, say that the sadness still remains but the ten years of time has allowed them to feel proud of their son—a young man who opened a new chapter in the relationship between Korea and Japan.

From childhood, Lee was a positive, adventurous and diligent person. The life story of Lee suggests histhe steadiness of Lee but at the same time shows that he was a student like no other. During elementary and middle school, he was the “good boy.” He worked hard and received the honor student award when graduating middle school. Like allmost of the teenagers, Lee Soo-Hyun also went through adolescence. Nonetheless, he was always a steady person. He had a profound affection for music and sports as well. His love for music began when Lee’s father bought a guitar for him when he was ina middle-schooler. “He spent a lot of his free time playing the guitar, and I was proud of him,” Mr. Lee recalls. In high school, Lee and two of his friends organized a band and held performances. Lee was an all-round sportsman who enjoyed swimming, basketball and tennis. He even travelled around the country by bicycle. Such passion for sports continued when he went to study in Japan. He climbed Mount Fuji Mountain riding histhe bicycle. As a part of the commemoration, Mr. Lee and Mrs. Shin also challenged themselves by climbing the mountain. “Climbing was even hard on foot. I cannot imagine how he managed to climb the mountain carrying the bicycle,” says Mr. Lee.

Recently, Lee’s parents visited Japan to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Lee Soo-Hyun. The LSH-Asia scholarship committee also had its 10th anniversary, too. When the accident happened, people from Japan wanted to do something for Lee so they started donating money which the press received and delivered to his parents. Lee’s parents wished to spend the money meaningfully, so people with the same ideals gathered and officially launched a new scholarship program named LSH-Asia. The program is purely run by donations from citizens and it provides scholarships to Asian students who are studying in Japan. The beneficiaries are mostly students from China, Korea, and other Southeast Asian countries such as Bangladesh and Nepal. “When we meet the students [beneficiaries of the scholarship] at the presentation ceremony, we tell them to remember our son, who was

exactly in the same situation 10 years ago. We know that they have a hard time studying abroad and we wanted to help them. The scholarship program is something we hope that will continue over time.” Besides the scholarship program, a writing contest in the name of Lee Soo Hyun is held in Busan. Mr. Lee and Mrs. Shin (Lee’s mother) are thankful that many people do not regard their son’s death as a mere tragedy but try to turn the accident into something bigger, more meaningful and helpful for everybody.

Then how could we, as the youth of a country, follow the spirits of Lee, 10 years after his death? That is on us to think over, but one of the answers may be staying positive and doing one’s best as Mrs. Shin suggests: “I always had faith in Soo-Hyun because he was a very bright and positive boy. In whatever situation he was given, he had the ability to turn the situation around. I believe raising inner beauty and learning to be positive in given situations are very important virtues.”

Jeong Jae-Ho (고려대학교 일반대학원 태양광소재학과 박사과정), a member of band Mudan

“Lee Soo-Hyun was the main guitarist of our band. More than that, he was a great musician capable of writing good music and lyrics. He loved music very much,” says Jeong Jae-Ho, who was Lee’s junior underclassman in the Korea University rock band club, band Mudan (무단외박 in Korean). “I performed a song ‘More Than Words’ with him in 1997. I still remember the huge round of applause we received for the performance.”

Jeong remembers that Lee Soo-Hyun was a good seniorupperclassman. Like in many other uppersenior and junior/underclassman relationships, they went for drinks and talked about music, people, and life. Remembering back to school days, Jeong recalls that though Lee may look like a typical brusque man from Gyeong-sang do, he was a very attractive person filled with playfulness. When the band members gathered, he was the kind of person who madeled the atmosphere to be full of vitality. His active and upbeat personalityies always brightened up the mood of the band members. “He liked being with people and he had the ability to make people around him laugh,” says Jeong. Nonetheless, Lee regarded responsibility as the most important virtue. Though most of the times he was a friendly upperclassmansenior, he turned strict when the situations required it. “He set the examples for the underclassmen juniors to follow. He never missed band meetings, nor was he ever late for them. I remember him telling off some underclassmenjuniors who were late for band meetings.”

Lee Soo-Hyun used to live apart from his family in a town a bit far from school. Lee always rode his bicycle to school. One day, wondering why he bothered riding athe bicycle instead of using other means of transportation, Jeong asked Lee why. “He replied that a youth should act like one and it is not youthlike to choose to live in an easy way. Looking back, I think he was athe person who had the true enthusiasms of the youth.” Jeong went over to Lee’s house several times and saw that Lee was raising a turtle at home. “Raising turtles was quite unfamiliar at that time. Soo-Hyun took great care of the turtle. I felt he was a warm-hearted person appreciating life.”

10 years have passed since Lee Soo-Hyun’s death, but Jeong still remembers Lee’s courage and his warm heart. “I remember that Soo-Hyun could not bear something unjust. He fought for true justice. It hurts to lose a good upperclassmansenior who went through a lot together with me. But the beautiful sacrifice he made relieves the sadness a bit.”

Lee Tae-Sung, Actor

Lee Tae-Sung starred in the movie titled “26 Years Diary” which is a biopic that tells the story of Lee Soo-Hhyun’s life. The movie tells about Lee’s 26-year-old life story especially spotlighted on the experiences that Lee Soo-hHyun went through while living in Japan. As an actor who played Lee Soo-hHyun in the movie, Lee Tae-Sung said “I felt a close relationship with Soo-hHyun especially because he was a normal university student who liked sports and enjoyed playing music.” When Lee first was suggested named to be the main male cast of the movie, he said he was very pleased to act for such the purpose of remembering athe righteous person. “For actors, it is the main concern to see if the movie would bring a great box-office success. Although the film was not expected to bring such a huge commercial success, I was honored to be in thea cast and to work with Japanese movie stars.”

Lee visited the officially last memorial ceremony for Lee Soo-Hhyun’s death last January. Lee was not familiar with the memorial ceremony until he was first casted in the film. Five years after Lee’s death, he first went to the memorial ceremony held every winter in Japan. “The ceremony was solemn and calm. There were many people, including Soo-Hhyun’s family, therecame to commemorate him. The most impressive thing for me in going to the ceremony for the last five years was that many people did not easily forget about the incident and came to remember him for a long time.” Lee saw Soo-Hhyun’s parents trying not trying to cry during the ceremony, but he said they could not stop crying while visiting Shin-Okubo station, the place where Soo-Hhyun ran to save a man in the middle of the subway tracks. Lee said “I am the first child in my family and so was Soo-hHyun. While acting in the movie, I felt some kind of emotional connection with him because I could understand the responsibilities as the first child in a family.”

Lee added that he was fortunate to act as Lee Soo-hHyun in the film because all profits made from the film and from the cherish concert he participated were used for the LSH-Asia scholarship foundation, which was founded to financially aid foreign students studying in Japan. “I personally believe that although Lee Soo-Hhyun sacrificed to save aone’s life, the impact he gave to the relationship between Korea and Japan and to those students studying in Japan like himself was much greater than saving one person’s life. Like the film’s Korean title – “I wWon’t fForget yYou” – I will not ever forget Soo-hHyun’s righteous spirit.”

Roh Chi-Hwan, Secretary General of the Lee Soo-hHyun Good Samaritan Culture Foundation Establishment Committee

“It takes only 0.3 seconds to decide whether to save a person or not in an emergency situation. Lee Soo-hHyun is athe person who should be remembered for his sacrifice and courageous behavior. He was the one who saved the person in the middle of the subway track while many other Japanese people were stamping their feet not knowing what to do,” said Roh Chi-Hwan. When Roh first heard about the sad news of Lee Soo-hHyun on the newspaper, he believed there should be some form of commemoration needed to remember Lee’s sacrifice. Roh visited Japan to go to the very first memorial ceremony and recognized that, although it was tragic to lose one student’s life, Soo-hHyun should be remembered as a

role model for younger generations and a common denominator for the relationship between Korea and Japan.

Roh said “I acknowledge Lee as the one who performed the true love for another human. When Lee jumped into the subway track to save the person, he did not obviously think about any personal benefit for himself. He did not think about Korea and Korean people, or Korean history. He did not consider who the person was on the track, nor if the person was worthwhile to be saved. He practiced a true and pure love which respected the value of every human’s life. And that is what I respect about him the most.”

The Lee Soo-hHyun Good Samaritan Culture Foundation is in the progress of complete establishment. The foundation iswas established for the purpose of continual memorial event to enhance the righteous spirit and to promote welfare programs for the bereaved family of Lee. “Lee Soo-hHyun wanted to become a person playing as a bbridge between Korea and Japan in terms of international trade, economic cooperation, and mutual exchange. Although he is already dead, his spirit in creating better relations between the two countries has left them stronger than ever before,” Roh said. The Lee Soo-hHyun Good Samaritan Culture Foundation clarified that it will remember Lee’s upright spirit and work hard toon building a friendly relationship between Korea and Japan.