[Interview] The struggle to bring her grandfather home

Alla Kim, granddaughter of Korean independence fighter Gen. Hong Beom-do (1868–1943). (provided by Gyeonggi Province)

Granddaughter of Gen. Hong Beom-do aims to transport her grandfather’s remains to South Korea from Kazakhstan

“Even on his deathbed, my grandfather wanted to return to his homeland.”

The remains of Gen. Hong Beom-do (1868–1943), a Korean independence fighter who claimed victories in battles with Japanese forces at Qingshanli and Fengwudong in Manchuria as general commander of the Korean independence army during the Japanese occupation, are still buried in the foreign land of Kazakhstan 76 years after his death.

“I often heard about my grandfather’s wishes from my grandmother and the other older members of my family,” said Alla Kim, who is visiting South Korea at the request of Gyeonggi Province to attend a ceremony commemorating the centennial of the Korean Provisional Government (KPG) in Paju on Apr. 11.

Kim is the only grandchild of Gen. Hong, who was forcibly relocated to Kazakhstan from the city of Ussuriysk in Russia’s Primorsky Krai region in 1937 as part of Joseph Stalin’s forced migration policies for Koreans. Hong died the year after Kim’s birth.

“I heard that my grandfather doted on me and would hold me in his arms when I was a year old. They said I would crawl over to him and nibble on his fingers,” she remembered.

Hong endured a difficult life in his older years, working as a guard at a school before passing away and being buried in a cemetery in Kyzylorda. Kim was sent to live in Primorsky Krai, where she finished university and married.

“I heard from my older family members that [Vladimir] Lenin summoned my grandfather and told him he would ‘give him anything he wanted.’ And my grandfather said, ‘I do not need anything. I am happy with this. I only want guns. Help me liberate my homeland.’”

Gen. Hong Beom-do‘s grave in Kazakhstan

No bitterness, only hopes

More and more Koreans have visited Kim after learning she is Hong’s granddaughter; many of them leave her gifts of cosmetics, candy, and calendars. Hong has never received any honors from the South Korean government, nor have his descendants received any support, but Kim said she is not bitter.

“I don’t think I’m entitled to compensation just because I’m his descendant,” said Kim, who currently lives on a pension.

“I want to live like my grandfather, without really desiring things in life,” she added.

Yet there is one remaining sadness that represents her last wish in life: the return of her grandfather’s remains.

“When I first came to South Korea, I brought dirt from Russia to spread in the waters near Imjingak,” said Kim, who has visited South Korea around a dozen times. “It was to realize the dream of my grandfather, who wanted to travel to his liberated homeland but was never able to. I also felt sad thinking of my grandfather.”

The others who remember Hong – Kim’s mother and siblings – are no longer living. She has other relatives including nieces and nephews, but they have no memories of her grandfather. The dream of achieving his homecoming remains a task for Kim alone.

Describing herself as feeling both grateful and sorry for the cordial reception she has received on her visits to South Korea, Kim added, “This is my last dream. But it isn’t up to me whether my grandfather is buried in Korea.”

“I don’t know if I have that kind of strength,” she continued, her voice trailing off.

By Hong Yong-duk, South Gyeonggi Province correspondent

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