The special exhibition, “Writings of Ahn Jung-geun,” held at the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History in Jongno, Seoul, was bustling with young visitors in their 20s and 30s on Dec. 1.
The museum, in collaboration with the Ahn Jung-geun Memorial Association and Ahn Jung-geun Memorial Museum, has been hosting the exhibit since Oct. 24 to commemorate the 115th anniversary of Ahn’s 1909 assassination of Itō Hirobumi in Harbin, Manchuria. Ahn, who was 31 at the time of his execution in 1910 at Lushun Prison, is remembered as a Korean independence activist and national hero.
The exhibit showcases 18 of Ahn’s calligraphic works, along with his letters, photographs, and records such as news articles and telegrams from the era. Many young visitors in their 20s and 30s expressed a deeper connection with Ahn, previously regarded as a distant heroic figure.
“In textbooks, Ahn was just a lofty hero, but seeing his handwriting makes me realize he was a young person like us who achieved something extraordinary,” one visitor in their 20s said. Another noted, “I came to understand that even someone who led our independence movement was a young man grappling with life’s challenges, much like us.”
The museum said an unprecedented number of young Koreans visited the exhibition. “This might be the first time we’ve seen so many young people at an exhibit since opening in 2012,” said a museum official.
Um Jung-bin, a 24-year-old university student from Seoul’s Gwanak-gu, spent time reading and photographing a letter Ahn wrote in 1899 at age 20 to Father Joseph Wilhelm, a French missionary. In the letter, Ahn expressed his desire to study in Shanghai or Tokyo for four to five years and asked about the best time to start. “Ahn always seemed like a distant hero, but this letter showed him as a person contemplating how to live in his time, making him more relatable,” Um said.
Cho, a 20-year-old student from Daegu, stood solemnly before Ahn’s calligraphy piece inscribed with the word “Independence,” accompanied by his handprint bearing the mark of his severed ring finger.
“Seeing the handprint I had only encountered in textbooks was overwhelming,” Cho said. “Amid recent political turmoil, I sometimes feel disillusioned about S. Korea, but this reminded me that people like Ahn sacrificed so much, even their lives, to build this country.”
Kim Joo-hee, 23, a university student from Seoul’s Seongbuk-gu, brought her Vietnamese exchange student friend Nguyen, 23, to the exhibition. Kim said her interest in Ahn deepened after watching the musical “Hero,” in which actor Min Woo-hyuk portrayed Ahn.
“I wanted to share Ahn’s story with Nguyen,” Kim said. Nguyen added, “As someone from Vietnam, a country that also experienced colonial rule under France, I found Ahn’s document about Itō Hirobumi’s crimes very moving. It reminded me of Vietnam’s independence activists.”
The document, written by Ahn before the assassination, detailed Itō’s crimes, including his involvement in the assassination of Empress Myeongseong, the forced abdication of Emperor Gojong, the signing of the Eulsa Treaty and Jeongmi Seven Treaty, and the massacre of innocent Koreans. Itō, one of the most powerful figures in East Asia at the time, served as Japan’s first prime minister, as well as its fifth, seventh, and tenth, and also contributed to drafting modern Japan’s constitution.
Kwon Hyo-eun, 19, a recent high school graduate from Daegu, paused in front of a photograph of Ahn in traditional Korean burial attire taken shortly before his execution. Kwon noted that the postcard featuring Ahn’s image had been widely sold in Japan and other parts of Asia, to the extent that Japan eventually banned its distribution. “After finishing my The College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), I decided to visit Seoul on my own, and this exhibit made a deep impression on me,” she said.
