Unification Activist Baek Gi-wan Passes Away at 89 While Battling Pneumonia

Unification activist Baek Gi-wan [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] Baek Gi-wan, director of the Institute for Unification Issues, passed away on the 15th at the age of 89.

According to Seoul National University Hospital, Baek passed away peacefully in the morning while hospitalized. He had been admitted since January last year due to pneumonia symptoms and was receiving treatment.

Baek was a prominent elder in the progressive camp and a unification activist. He was born in Dongbu-ri, Jangryeon-myeon, Eunyul-gun, Hwanghae Province in 1932 and devoted himself to farmers', the poor's, unification, and democratization movements since the 1950s.

In 1964, Baek participated in the movement opposing the Korea-Japan Agreement, and in 1974, he led a one-million-signature campaign against the Yushin regime, for which he was imprisoned for violating emergency measures. He was also arrested and served time for leading the 'YMCA sham marriage incident' in 1979 and the 'Bucheon Kwon In-sook sexual torture exposure rally' in 1986.

In the 1987 presidential election, he ran as an independent people's candidate but withdrew to appeal for the unification of candidates Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung. After running in the 1992 presidential election, he served as the director of the Institute for Unification Issues, which he founded.

He is also the original lyricist of the people's song "March for the Beloved." His surviving family includes his wife Kim Jeong-sook, daughters Baek Won-dam (professor of Chinese Language and Literature at Sungkonghoe University), Baek Mi-dam, Baek Hyun-dam, and son Baek Il.

The funeral hall is set up in Room 2 of the Seoul National University Hospital Funeral Hall. The funeral procession will be held at 7 a.m. on the 19th.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.