A statue of Pak Kyong-ni to be set up at Toji Foundation

A statue of Pak Kyong-ni to be set up at Toji Foundation. May. 03, 2018 07:50. by Hyo-Lim Son aryssong@donga.com.
A statue will be set up at the Toji Foundation of Culture in Wonju City of Gangwon Province to the memory of the 10th anniversary since Pak Kyong-ni (1926-2008) passed away. The Toji Foundation of Culture will be hosting the unveiling ceremony and a concert next Saturday.

The statue, which was produced by Professor Gwon Dae-hoon at Seoul National University, is a 135-centimeter tall standing statue that depicts an image of Ms. Pak holding a book with her two hands. Underneath the statue, the phrase “A person who dreams creates” is inscribed in Korean and English.

An identical sculpture is also standing at the Pak Kyong-ni Memorial Hall in Tongyeong City and Park Kyong-ni House in Hadong County. The phrase “I am lighthearted as the only thing I have left is what I can throw away,” which is the last phrase of the title of Pak Kyong-ni’s posthumous collection of poems and the poem “The House Back in the Days.”

Saint Petersburg State University of Russia will be also holding an unveiling ceremony for Pak’s statue as part of cultural exchanges between Korea and Russia.

At the concert, soprano Cho Hyun-ae and tenor Kang Hoon will be singing Pak Kyong-ni’s poems “Wind” and “Compassion” by adding melodies to the poems.