해방 이후 안중근의사 유해 발굴 현황과 방향 제언

Abstract

This year marks the 110th anniversary of Martyr An Jung-geun’s demise. However, the task to recover his remains has not been properly embarked upon due to changes in domestic and international circumstance sand a lack of organized preparation. Thus, the purpose of this essay is to examine various post–liberation attempts to recover his remains on a type–by–type basis, and, based on that examination, to suggest methods and directions for future recovery efforts. Not with standing the chaos ensuing the liberation, several memorial events for Martyr An were held while commemorative projects being well under way, which prompted people to request that his body be exhumed and brought back to Korea. During the South-North negotiations in 1948, Kim Gu asked Kim Il-sung to make a joint effort to recover An’s remains and let his nephew Ahn Woo-saeng stay in the North. But the attempt was unsuccessful. In 1992 when Korea established diplomatic relations with China, the Korean government actively negotiated with its Chinese counterpart over locating An’s burial site and excavating his remains, eventually managing to make the Chinese agree to helping the recovery under the condition that North Korea should be part of the recovery effort. There were nongovernmental efforts as well. Not only were records and testimonies collected, but also the presumed burial site in Lushun was investigated by multiple committees. In 2005, until which year the South and the North had made recovery efforts separately, the two reached an understanding and agreed to found a joint organization for the recovery of An’s remains, and yet the North later on notified the South that they would not take part in any actual excavations. As a result, the South searched the site by itself in 2008 but failed to find An’s body. The Council for the Recovery of Martyr An Jung-geun’s Remains, a permanent organization established on the occasion of the centenary of An’s death in 2010, has been carrying out long-term recovery projects, whose results, unfortunately, have been rarely made accessible to other institutions and individual researchers. In light of this situation, what is currently required is to set up a central coordinating agency that can conduct recovery projects in a systematic, consistent manner. Furthermore, all the records and testimonies material to the recovery must be gathered and be subject to objective evaluation. We also need to find a way to effectively cooperate with China and Japan as regards the excavation of An’s remains. Lastly, in order to reinforce the necessity for the recovery of An’s remains, we should make an effort to create an environment where the South and the North can carry out a joint excavation operation.