People gather once again to restore the old house of Chun Tae-il

The eaves and roof of the main house of Jeon Tae-il\'s former home were covered with tents on the 14th. Three rooms have already collapsed and only the ruins remain.

The restoration of Chun Tae-il's old house in Daegu where he lived as a child and the construction of a memorial center are facing difficulties. Chun is a labor rights icon who burned himself to death at the age of 22 to protest poor working conditions of factories in South Korea. Chuntaeil’s Friends announced on December 18 that it will hold a second fundraising campaign to restore the old house by next year. Chuntaeil’s Friends is a group of people from all walks of life to inherit and promote Chun’s life and spirit.

Chun’s old house is located in Namsan-dong, Jung-gu, Daegu. The rented room where he lived with his family has collapsed, but you can guess the size of the room by looking at some 20 wooden pillars lying along the boundary of the room. The eaves of the owner’s house, which is facing Chun’s rented room, are barely maintained in shape by adding iron plates and wood.

Chuntaeil’s Friends organized a fundraising campaign in 2019 to build a memorial center on this site. More than 3,200 people from all over the country, including Daegu, raised more than 430 million won to buy the old house in 2020.

Since then, the organization has been discussing ways to build a memorial center with about 1 billion won from the budget of Daegu. The city also showed consensus to support the budget at a civic forum held in May 2021 under the theme of “How to Preserve Chun Tae-il's Old House?”

However, the discussion was halted when Daegu and civic organizations failed to narrow their differences on the ownership of the old house and failed to find ways to raise additional funds. Daegu tried to take the ownership of the old house to support the budget, but they reportedly failed to reach an agreement on the operation authority and so on.
Chuntaeil’s Friends say they can no longer postpone the project to build a memorial center as Chun’s old house is being torn down. However, they are currently struggling to raise as much money as they originally planned.

They plan to raise about 300 million won for the construction with the goal of completing the center in September next year. They also hope to raise about half of the total amount and begin construction by March next year.

Last year, Chuntaeil’s Friends excavated the foundation stone of Chun’s rented room (about 9.9 square meters) of the old house (195 square meters) and carried out historical research on the site. Instead of restoring the room to its original form, it will be recreated in a new way by placing objects based on the artist's interpretation. The rest of the space, including the owner's house, will be restored to its original form as much as possible and turned it into an exhibition center and experience space that can be used for young people and temporary workers.

Chuntaeil’s Friends hope that the restoration of the old house and the establishment of a memorial center will attract huge interests from the central and local governments as it will be used as a local heritage and public property.

Kim Chae-won, executive director of Chuntaeil’s Friends, said, “Local governments and politicians seem to be too indifferent to the construction of a memorial center even though the situation is not favorable due to several reasons, such as economic recession.”

An official from Daegu City said, "There is no basis for investing local government's budget unless there is a separate ordinance because Chun’s old house is currently owned by a private organization."
Chun’s old house in Daegu is where his entire family lived when he attended Cheongok High School. He later recalled the period of living in the house, saying "the happiest time of my life.”

He also recalled his days at the high school, saying “It felt like every day existed for me.”

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