Seoul Mayoral Pre-candidates Park and Woo Mourn Baek Giwan: "Lost a Beacon of the Era"

Park Young-sun "Singing the March for the Beloved Loudly"
Woo Sang-ho "A Person Who Was Overwhelmed Just Following the Shadow"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] On the 15th, news of the passing of unification activist Baek Gi-wan was met with condolences from ruling party candidates running in the Seoul mayoral by-election.

On the same day, Park Young-sun, a candidate in the Democratic Party's Seoul mayoral primary, wrote on Facebook, "Visiting the modest research institute near Daehak-ro where the teacher used to be a long time ago has now become a memory filled with the teacher's youth," adding, "The teacher who expressed a passionate zeal for unification. The teacher who told me, 'I like how straightforward and resolute you are.' You worked so hard."

Candidate Park added, "Now rest in peace. We will do well," and said, "I dedicate the original poem of 'March for the Beloved' to the teacher's memory. And I raise my voice to sing it again," sharing a photo taken together during the teacher's lifetime.

Woo Sang-ho, another candidate from the same party, also recalled on Facebook, "Looking back, it seems the teacher was always at the forefront. It was overwhelming just to follow that shadow." Woo mourned, "We have lost the light of the era once again."

Not only ruling party candidates but also political circles continued to share messages mourning Baek Gi-wan.

Kang Eun-mi, the Emergency Committee Chairperson of the Justice Party, said in a tribute message, "Teacher Baek spent his entire life alongside the turbulent times of modern Korean history," introducing him as "a great elder of our time who devoted his life to farmers, the poor, unification, and democratization movements, participating broadly in Korean social activism."

She also mentioned, "He was imprisoned for opposing the Korea-Japan Agreement and violating the Emergency Measures against the Yushin regime, and was arrested and served time for leading the 'YMCA sham marriage incident' and the 'Bucheon Kwon In-sook sexual torture exposure rally.' In the 1987 presidential election, he ran as an independent people's candidate but withdrew appealing for the unification of candidates Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung, and he also ran as an independent candidate in the 1992 presidential election."

Chairperson Kang recalled, "Until now, he was active as the director of the Institute for Unification Issues, which he founded, and as a great elder of our time, he did not hesitate to throw himself into scenes of tears and pain," and said, "We will strive even more for the world where the people, whom the teacher could not fully realize, become the owners."

Teacher Baek was born in 1932 in Eunyul, Hwanghae Province, and from the 1950s devoted himself to farmers, the poor, unification, and democratization movements. In February 1974, he was the first violator of Emergency Measure No. 1 and served prison time. He was also the original author of the long poem "Muthbinari," which became the basis for the lyrics of the people's song "March for the Beloved."

The funeral hall has been set up at Seoul National University Hospital, and the funeral procession will take place at 7 a.m. on the 19th.

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