Like many young people nowadays, his dream as a student was to become a singer. His idol was the bard Bob Dylan, the singer-poet who won the Nobel Prize in Literature last year. The speaker is Kim Jong-ryul (57), secretary general of the Gwangju Cultural Foundation, who in the winter of 1981, as a senior majoring in business at Chonnam National University, composed the melody of the people’s song “A March for the Beloved.” This song, after a nine-year suspension due to “pro-North” disputes, was to be sung in unison on the morning of May 18, at the 37th anniversary commemoration of the Gwangju Democratic Uprising.
He never had proper music education. All he had was his experience since the second-year in middle school attending Gwangju Gyelim Church (Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea), thanks to the evangelical efforts of his aunt, a sincere Christian. His best music teachers were the church bells and the organ, whose sounds resonated in his soul.
In university, as a member of the music circle, he won top prizes in various singing contests and was involved in many activities. But after going through the May 1980 Gwangju Democratic Uprising, his thinking was changed.
“I have a vivid memory of the beautiful sunset that day. When the soldiers began clubbing the young people and I saw the red blood spurting from one's head, I thought my heart would stop. I stood frozen. Then I came to my senses and ran in the opposite direction, praying, ‘Save me, God!’ After that, I could no longer sing.”
The musical play “Neok Puri” (Soul Solace) includes modified scenes from that experience. It is a depiction of the wrongful deaths of two young men who were friends. The heroes are Park Gi-sun, who died in 1978, and Yun Sang-weon, who lost his life on May 27, 1980, at Jeonnam Provincial Building, in the final battle of the May 18 Democratic Uprising. Moved by the faith he has cherished since his younger days, Kim composed the music of “A March for the Beloved.”
“Novelist Hwang Sok-yong proposed this musical play. The moment I heard his words, my heart opened and my courage soared. I gave a prayer of thanks, went to the rehearsal room and wrote the musical notation.”
The song made by the 23-year-old was copied onto thousands of audio tapes and distributed through churches and citizens’ organizations nationwide. Passed from hand to hand, repeatedly copied and recopied, it has now been resurrected as a living witness and guide of South Korea’s development as a mature democracy.
“The singing of this song again this year makes me feel like I’ve suddenly been freed from 10 years of indigestion. The ‘beloved’ is all the people who have devoted themselves to democracy in this land. I’m thinking of making a musical like ‘Les Miserables,’ or a symphony.”
“I don’t want to become a ‘famous person’ because of this song,” Kim said. “It’s simply for the victims of the 1980 Gwangju Democratic Movement, and for the glory of God, who comforts them.”
In 1984 he came to Seoul, and since 1995 he has served as an elder of Saejungang Church (Rev. Hwang Deok-yeong) in Pyeongchon, Gyeonggi-do. He says that Saejungang Church, as a member of the Presbyterian Church of Korea ? Daeshin, is conservative, but because he likes the messages of Pastor Emeritus Park Jung-shik, he has settled in there.
“In the heart of faith, progressive and conservative do not exist separately. There is only the love of Jesus Christ who is present in humble places.”
Concluding his remarks, Secretary General Kim expressed his wish to spend his remaining years in the praise ministry, devoting himself to God and Jesus Christ.
Article and photo by reporter Yoon Jung Sik (yunjs@kmib.co.kr), from Gwangju and Anyang, with Marion Kim (marionkkim@icloud.com)
Original Article in Korean:
“신앙에 보수-진보가 따로 있나요… 오직 예수의 사랑이 있을 뿐이죠”: 5·18민주화운동 37주년에 만난 ‘임을 위한 행진곡’ 작곡가 김종률 장로
