Reburial in Seoul to honor Korean patriots of Hawai'i
By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer
It's never too late to give patriots their due, never too late to fulfill a loved one's wish.
DOIN KWON
Both of those impulses came into play for the Dunns and Kwons, two Korean clans that labored for Korean independence during the first half of the last century.
Tomorrow, descendants of Doin and Hee Kyung Lee Kwon and of Jacob Kyuang Mu Dunn will depart from Honolulu for Seoul, where on Tuesday the remains of the three will be buried with full honors at Daejeon National Cemetery.
Their life stories were part of the saga of Korean expatriates — many of whom settled in Hawai'i for all or part of their lives — who organized, raised money and otherwise kept the plea for the restoration of Korean sovereignty in the minds of world leaders.
Doin Kwon followed a classic immigrant's path in Hawai'i to success, owning a successful business, Poinciana Blinds. He demonstrated his patriotism quietly, contributing money to the cause and buying newspaper ads to celebrate efforts by the movement, said daughter Esther Kwon Arinaga.
Kwon's wife, like many of the Korean women of Hawai'i at the time, worked in covert fashion for independence. Hee Kyung Lee Kwon secretly carried donated money to Korea to be used for the freedom fight and, in 1919, marched in the independence demonstration in Seoul, according to Arinaga.
"The women were very passionate about getting their country back," she said.
ESTHER KWON ARINAGA
The Republic of Korea was established with elections in 1948 following a transition period after World War II.
Dunn loomed larger on the political scene. He was an orator, with speeches airing on U.S. radio about Korea's plight under Japanese rule. Dunn headed a group that lobbied for the restoration of a unified Korea and was seen as a rival of Syngman Rhee, who became the first president of South Korea.
Named as the Korean delegate to the International Olympic Committee, Dunn died in a 1947 plane crash over Mount Fuji, en route to a meeting in Norway.
The tragedy was mourned with a heroes' funeral in Seoul, said Scott Dunn, his grandnephew. But that's where the story takes a bizarre turn.
Rhee had the remains exhumed from the first grave and reburied in a Catholic cemetery. During a construction project, they were moved again, and the family lost track of the remains.
About six years ago, the South Korea government began an effort to repatriate remains of those in the independence movement, and a government search for Dunn's remains began. Late last year, they were located in another Catholic cemetery outside Seoul, Scott Dunn said.
The party leaving tomorrow comprises five members of the Dunn family and nine of the Kwons. Also traveling to the ceremonies will be Roberta Chang, representing the Korean National Association, a Hawai'i-based group that had been involved in the independence movement and now is helping with repatriation.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
This is the third ceremony involving Hawai'i families, according to Chang, who said: "There's been a push for a long time that Koreans in America were not recognized for their part in the revolution."
Scott Dunn holds a picture of his granduncle Jacob Kyuang Mu Dunn. He is flanked by Bassil Dunn, left, a nephew of Jacob Dunn, and by Arthur Dunn, another nephew of the Korean patriot.
Chang said nine other families here received the same official honor from the South Korean government but opted not to exhume loved ones for a Korean reburial.
Dunn had never become a U.S. citizen, so there was no wrenching decision for his descendants. Still, said his nephew Bassil Dunn, the family has lived with a great deal of disquiet over the upset of Jacob Dunn's burial, but "at least we're going to have closure, finally."
But the Kwons faced a tough choice. Arinaga's mother died in 1947; her father became an American citizen later and never had the chance to return to the country of his birth, she said.
"This was a very difficult decision for our family," Arinaga said. "My father loved America, he was proud to become a citizen.
"We tried to look at it — what would they have wanted? We thought that they would be very honored to get this recognition and to go home to the country that they really loved."
Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.
