Jeong Yul-seong’s bust removed from elementary school he attended after controversy over ideology

On April 30, Hwasun-gun, Jeollanam-do, removed a bust of Jeong Yul-sung installed at Neungju Elementary School.

“I heard he was a great graduate of our school. Why was it removed?”

A student who met at Neungju Elementary School in Hwasun-gun, South Jeolla Province, on May 9, pointed to the place where the bust of Jeong Yul-seong was located on one side of the campus. The statue, which had been here until recently, was uprooted and no trace could be found.

New sidewalk blocks have been laid on the site. Only a rusted steel sculpture with the numbers “1914-1976” (years of his birth and death) and a panel with his biography were there.

A bust and a memorial classroom built in the elementary school to commemorate Jeong Yul-seong, a Chinese musician and a former anti-Japanese militant, were demolished late last month, according to the school and the Hwasun Education Support Office on May 13.

The bust was erected in 2008, the 100th anniversary of Neungju Elementary School, which was established in October 1908. Jeong lived in Neungju-myeon, Hwasun-gun from 1917 to 1923 and attended the school until the second grade.

At that time, Hwasun-gun donated 20 million won to the school to build the bust. It was the time when Gwangju and Hwasun-gun, where Jeong was born and spent his childhood, were promoting various commemorative projects named after him to attract Chinese tourists.

Following the bust, Hwasun-gun also created a "Memorial Classroom" in September 2015 that recreated the old classroom where Jeong attended with a budget of 80 million won. In 2017, 100 million won was invested to refurbish the area around the bust, and portraits of Jeong and his childhood were carved with tiles on the outer wall of the elementary school.

The school attracted attention as a "Tour Spot commemorating Jeong Yul-seong" along with his birthplace where he lived. It also provided education programs related to him which introduced him as a "great musician from Neungju Elementary School.”

Jeong has become a problem since August last year. Former Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs Park Min-sik instigated an ideological debate by writing articles or making remarks on social media, taking issue with Jeong's past history of activities for the North Korean military. Park even called for the memorial projects to be stopped and the related facilities to be demolished. Since the controversy, the school has received protest calls every day, and conservative YouTubers visited the school and disrupted classes,” said an official from the Hwasun Education Support Office.

The school and the Hwasun Education Support Office decided that the students' right to learn was being violated as the school was engulfed in the “controversy over Jeong.” They requested Hwasun-gun to take measures, and the county eventually removed the bust and the memorial classroom on April 30 after consulting with the alumni association of the school. In the near future, the mural painting on the exterior wall will be removed and the exhibition hall in the birthplace will also be demolished.

Most of the students were puzzled by the bust's disappearance, but did not know why. “I heard it was some kind of controversy over North Korea...” said a fifth-grade student, blurring his words. “I'll have to ask my teacher later.”

Mr. Hwang (64), a resident living nearby, said, "Even if the ideology is different, there is a degree, but if the person's entire life is labeled as communist, what happens to the historical honor of the school, which is more than 110 years old, and how do we explain it to young students?”

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.