There is a son who sat face to face with his father and ate for the first time at the age of 25. Even when I first saw my father's face, I was around the age of the tropics. One day when I was living with my grandmother, when a good-looking man came home, the surprised grandmother said, "Go ahead and bow." It was the first temple I gave to my father without knowing why. My father had risked his life in exile to see his second son and mother. This is the story of Baekbeom Kim Gu, a 凡 who devoted his life to his country, and his son Kim Shin, the 6th Air Force Chief of Staff. On the 81st anniversary of Liberation Day and the 150th anniversary of Kim Gu's birth, the Maeil Business Newspaper held an interview with Kim Mi, the granddaughter of Kim Gu and the daughter of General Kim Shin, at the Baekbeom Kim Gu Memorial Hall in Yongsan, Seoul on the 12th.

"The most memorable thing among the stories you told me is the father-son 父, who missed each other deeply but could not express his feelings to his heart's fullest." The emotion that penetrated the rich man's story that Director Kim remembered and heard was "nostalgia." He recalled, "When my father received a letter from my grandfather, avoiding Japanese surveillance, he even smelled it and carefully licked it, wondering if there would be any traces of my father on the stamp."

Kim Gu's thoughts about his son remain intact in the Baekbeom Ilji. "My grandfather started writing to deliver his life to his two sons, who were far away, at a time when he might lose his life while campaigning for independence," Director Kim said. "I think it is with the same mind that he said he wrote the business district of Baekbeom instead of his suicide note." "So for me, Baekbeomji is an autobiography of an independence activist and at the same time feels like a long letter left by my father to my children," he said.

However, for Kim Gu, it was the country that preceded his family. Director Kim explained that Kim Gu put the top priority on reclaiming the country, thinking that the country can be protected by the family and the people. "Even when I became a liberator, my grandfather made me continue my flight training rather than having my son around me," he said. "I thought the new country needed professional talent."



Why did the "Kim Gu Family" such as Kim Gu, General Kim Shin, and Director Kim Mi choose to live for society from generation to generation. Director Kim said, "No one in my family has ever specifically taught me to 'serve the country,'" adding, "However, I learned naturally from watching my great-grandmother, grandfather, and father live." I think it's a basic attitude that every Korean citizen should have," he said.

However, Director Kim saw that as times have changed, the way of "dedication" for the country and society could also change. If the dedication of Kim Gu's era was to put his life and time with his family behind him for independence, today, sharing the freedom and abilities that each person enjoys for others and society can be a way to continue that spirit. The freedom that Kim Gu said in "My Wish" is also in line with Kim's thoughts. Kim Gu emphasized "the freedom to plant flowers in the park, not the freedom to pick flowers in the park." Director Kim explained, "I'm telling you not to use your freedom just for yourself, but to share good things with your neighbors and to give happiness to others."

Director Kim emphasized that today, when individualism and selfishness become stronger, it is necessary to look back at the spirit of Baekbeom. "My wish is to say, 'Since our society will gradually go to individualism, shouldn't we think about it higher and a little wider?' and "The freedom we enjoy while hurting others is not freedom," he said. As such, the society created by the gathering of "responsibility-based" freedom was the "beautiful country" Baek Beom dreamed of. In "My Wish," Kim Gu said, "I want Korea to become the most beautiful country in the world," adding, "What I want to have infinitely is the power of high culture." He wrote that the power of culture not only makes him happy, but also gives happiness to others.

Director Kim evaluated that today's Republic of Korea is very close to the "beautiful country" Baekbeom dreamed of. "My father, who will be at the center of the world stage with the power of culture today, would have been proud," he said. "On the other hand, the division and the conflict in our society that continues would have been very sad." "We can use the power of culture to contribute to the happiness and peace of the world and get closer to the 'beautiful country' that my grandfather wanted when we solve conflicts in our society through inclusion and dialogue," he stressed.

[Reporter Kim Sangjoon]