해방 이후 일본인 사자(死者)를 둘러싼 위령(慰靈)의 정치

Abstract

After liberation, Busan became the final bastion for preserving the remains and memorial tablets of Japanese individuals in the Korean Peninsula. The descendants left Busan with the hope of recovering them someday. Meanwhile, during the Korean War, refugees in Busan built homes on a Japanese cemetery in Ami-dong for survival. They built a house on the cemetery to survive in front of them, but through their own methods and rituals, they collectively treated each Japanese deceased as an “having died in a foreign land” and comforted them through rituals. After the ceasefire, Busan erected a memorial monument for Japanese people by gathering Japanese remains and tablets in Ami-dong as part of the city's renovation efforts. During this period, awareness of the issue of Japanese remains disposal was also heightened in Korea. At that time, Busan Mayor Kim Hyun-ok considered both "humanitarianism" and "political issues" in relation to the Japanese monument. However, after Mayor Kim was appointed to Seoul, he became involved in the construction of a memorial monument for the Japanese. Faced with strong opposition and resistance from Seoul citizens, the monument was dismantled, and the remains were repatriated to Japan. The Seoul Metropolitan Government and the national government erected a monument for Japanese on a humanitarian level. However, this serves as a case of foreign policy with ambiguous justification. Paradoxically demonstrating a political approach to memorialization that does not take into account public sentiment. The Seoul Metropolitan Government and the national government established a Japanese memorial monument on humanitarian grounds, but paradoxically, it showcased the Korean government's broad diplomacy as "humanitarianism," neglecting public sentiment entirely. After the normalization of diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan, Heichi Maruyama, a former Japanese Sehwa Association employee in Busan, and informed the bereaved family officials across the country of the recovery of Japanese remains immediately after liberation and asked the Busan Metropolitan Government and the Korean government to visit the old cemetery and hold a joint memorial service. Maruyama's wishes have not been fulfilled, but since then, Japanese people have been visiting the tombstone village in Ami-dong to find traces of their families individually. During the Korean-Japanese Conference, the issue of remains was excluded from the main agenda. Even after the establishment of diplomatic relations, it was overshadowed by Japanese wives returning to their home country. Now, it is enshrined as a memorial tablet under the Japanese memorial monument in Yeongrak Park in Busan. The management of memorial monuments and services is overseen by Bu Yong-hoe, a group of Japanese wives in Korea. Both countries implemented a political mechanism called a memorial for Japanese deceased for political gain and addressed the Japanese deceased issue as a means for national benefit. However, civilians, such as Ami-dong villagers, Japanese bereaved families, and Bu Yong-hoe, persist in commemorating the Japanese deceased issue, recognizing it as a matter of personal connection, such as residence, blood ties, and hometown.