"Sorry for Not Protecting You"... Poet Yoon Dong-ju to Receive Honorary Doctorate from Japanese Alma Mater

80th Anniversary of Martyrdom Award Next Year... First Time Since Establishment
"Contains Apology for School's Failure to Protect"

Poet and independence activist Yun Dong-ju (1917?1945) will receive an honorary doctorate from Doshisha University, his alma mater in Japan.

Doshisha University recently announced on the 14th that, at a meeting of the deans presided over by President Katsuhiko Kohara, it was decided to award poet Yun Dong-ju an honorary Doctor of Letters degree.

Doshisha University, located in Kyoto, Japan, traces its origins to the "Doshisha English School" founded in 1875 by Joseph Hardy Neesima, a graduate of Amherst College in the United States, through private donations and support. The university currently has about 30,000 students.

Yun Dong-ju's Poetry Monument at Doshisha University Yonhap News

Yun is the first person to receive a posthumous doctorate from Doshisha University since its founding. The award ceremony is scheduled to take place around February 16 next year, marking the 80th anniversary of Yun’s martyrdom, with Yun In-seok, Yun Dong-ju’s nephew and an emeritus professor at Sungkyunkwan University, expected to attend.

Yun graduated from Yonhi College, the predecessor of Yonsei University, and then entered Rikkyo University in Tokyo. Later, in 1942, he transferred to the Department of English Literature at Doshisha University.

In 1943, while still a student, he was arrested by Japanese police on charges of participating in a student group discussing Korean independence. He was imprisoned at Kuoka Prison and died in custody on February 16, 1945, at the age of 28, six months before Korea’s liberation.

Professor Ryuta Itagaki of the Department of Sociology at Doshisha University stated, “This special decision reflects the university’s regret for not being able to protect poet Yun, who died after being arrested while enrolled.” The university also plans to hold a commemorative event for the 80th anniversary of Yun Dong-ju next year.

At Doshisha University, a monument engraved with Yun’s representative poem "Seosi" (Foreword) was erected in 1995 and continues to attract visitors paying their respects.

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