culture

Yun Ki Su is a war veteran living in neighbourhood unit No. 55 of Hwasong-dong No. 2, Hwasong District, Pyongyang.

He is now 87 years old.

Two military uniforms 

Two military uniforms are hanging in Yun’s home.

One is the uniform with the epaulets of corporal he wore during the Fatherland Liberation War and the other has those of colonel, which shows his service career after the war. The two uniforms tell his autobiography.

He experienced the trials of war in his young age.

Houses, schools and villages were all burnt down, and his father, a platoon leader of the People’s Guerrilla Army, was arrested and killed by the enemy. His mother was also killed by the enemy’s bombing.

It was the soldiers of the Korean People’s Army who were passing through the village that took care of the parentless child. He realized the true meaning of love and hatred while braving through the grim period of war. In June 1951, the year after the outbreak of the war, he joined the KPA as he desired. An orderly, he ran through hills exposed to showers of bullets to fulfil his duty. Mowing down the enemy troops to avenge the deaths of his fallen comrades, he grew up into a corporal. He was awarded the first Distinguished Military Service Medal by defending a hill to the last together with the personnel amounting to only one squad. He celebrated the victory in the war on a height on July 27 1953. He made up his mind to continue his military service throughout his life. In the days of military service, he developed into a competent military officer. 

‘Red seed’   

Although he is over 80 years old, his mental ability has never grown weak. 

Under the care of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the state that hold war veterans in high esteem, he took part in the national conferences of war veterans on several occasions and spent a good time at the sanatorium for war veterans and the Yangdok Hot Spring Resort.

The government provided him with a new flat preferentially. 

As he was shown such favour time and again, he redoubled his efforts to implant true patriotism in younger generations. 

He, together with his children, visited the Fatherland Liberation War Martyrs Cemetery on different occasions, including V-Day in July. As he saw the photos of his comrades-in-arms there, he recollected the height which he and they had defended at the cost of their blood and the national flag that had fluttered at decisive battles and wrote a drama on the spirit of defending the country. 

Thus, he created TV drama “Red Seed”.

His work was highly appreciated at the national prize scenario contest in April last year. It is also the veteran’s legacy left for the younger generations.