[GLOBAL ECONOMIC TIMES] January 26, 2001, 7:15 p.m. Su-hyeon Lee (25 years old at the time), a college student studying language in Tokyo, Japan, discovered a drunk man who had fallen on the tracks while returning to his dormitory after finishing his part-time job. Mr. Lee, along with Japanese Shiro Sekine, jumped onto the tracks without hesitation to save the drunk passenger. However, the miracle did not happen and all three people died in a collision with a train.
On the afternoon of the 17th, well over 23 years later, the documentary film ‘Kakehashi’ (Bridge), honoring Mr. Lee, ‘the righteous man of Shin-Okubo,’ met the audience at the community center in Setagaya-gu, Tokyo. It was a simple event with a small screen. About 50 local residents filled the seats, and there seemed to be about three or five reporters.
Chapter 1 of the film tells the story of Mr. Lee's parents and officials who established a scholarship society with consolation money sent from various parts of Japan, following his son's wish to 'become a bridge between Korea and Japan', and chapter 2 tells the story of Lee's parents and officials in Japan celebrating the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan in 2015. It captures the interactions between Korean and Japanese young people. Not a single person left their seats while the film, completed in 2017, ran for 95 minutes.
At the screening that day, Lee's mother, Shin Yun-chan, specially attended and took the microphone. He, who visited Japan two days ago for a scholarship event, said in a talk following the screening, “My son said, ‘I will become the best Kakehashi in Korea and Japan,’ and it remains as a lesson to me.” “I think it can be done,” he said. The scholarship foundation named after Mr. Lee is said to have produced 1,200 scholarship students over the past 20 years. Mr. Shin's words were ordinary, but they had a special weight.
For 23 years after Mr. Lee passed away, Korea and Japan repeatedly grew closer and further apart, experiencing repeated conflict and reconciliation. When the second Shinzo Abe administration took office, the relationship between the two countries reached extremes due to issues related to past history. In the midst of all this, I felt grateful and relieved that the seed of ‘bondage’ that Mr. Lee had sown was being passed down quietly but steadily.
As the movie asks, what exactly did Mr. Lee leave in our hearts? A Japanese student who appeared in the documentary said at an exchange meeting with Korean students in 2015, “We are college students now, but one day, when we enter a company, have subordinates, and take on important roles, let us not forget the friendship we shared with each other today.”
It is not difficult to attack symbolic humans, but it is not easy to inflict violence on a neighbor with whom you exchanged words or a friend with whom you shared small memories such as a meal. This experience of young people in both Korea and Japan will one day serve as ‘intelligence’ that will prevent the emergence and rampage of crooked politicians who seek to symbolize the other country.
Chapter 3 of the movie ‘Kakehashi’ was filmed last year after experiencing difficulties in production due to COVID-19. This time, Shin visits the Hiroshima area where the atomic bomb was dropped alone. My husband, who was with me in Chapter 1, passed away in 2019. The goal is to hold a preview screening next year to coincide with the 25th anniversary of Mr. Lee's death on January 26, 2026, after editing.
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