When Your Name Is Rewritten
This assemblage was inspired by the records of former South Korean soldier Kim Dong-Seong, who returned to his family after seventy years through the U.S. Department of Defense’s Korean War project.
Jin Joo Hye, a forensic anthropologist at the U.S. Department of Defense, has been working to find the remains of numerous war veterans and return them to their families since 2010 through the ongoing “K208 Project,” which started with the question, “What makes a person human?” In 2020, 147 soldiers were able to return to their families as a bargaining chip between North Korea and the United States. Through the record of Private First Class Kim Dong-Seong, who was one of 147 soldiers, I created a scene about the dignity of life and death, memory, time, and family in one’s life.
Soldier Kim Dong-Seong volunteered for military service in Busan in August 1950 at the age of 24 and died in September during the Korean War. After existing only in the minds and hearts of his family for seventy years, he finally returned to his family, regained his name with his own identity, and was rewarded for his sacrifice and devotion to his country. The family shook off their resentment and finally found relief in their hearts. The forensic anthropologist’s question of “what makes a person human” is proven not only by a person’s physical remains but also by their attitudes toward life, their life journey, and what is left behind in the remains.
The narrative is heavy, and the scene has a solemn atmosphere, which represents the noble sacrifice of humanity, and yet it is also a celebration of a young warrior returning to his family after seventy years. Various instruments greet him with their own unique sounds. His name will now be alive in everyone’s memories and throughout time. The 24-year-old father is now reunited with his family under his own roof.