On Forty Steps

By Bernard Rowan

Busan may be South Korea's second city, but it includes a monument central to the history of present-day Korea. I'm talking about the Forty Steps Stairway in Jungang neighborhood. Don't overlook this deceptively simple space and place. I think it's a symbol of the past and the way forward for Korea. That means a future of peace and eventual reunification.

During the Korean War, the new Republic struggled. The Chinese Army and the North pushed the U.S.-ROK forces all the way to Busan. Many Korean people in the South lived around the Forty Steps area, originally a Japanese residential area. Lives were at risk. The War divided families. In the tumult, loved ones lost one another.

In turn, the stairs stood as a finding place. People knew to go there and look for loved ones. In the area grew a marketplace for Koreans to buy and sell goods. Nearby humble homes cropped up -- a grim place at a grim time. Yet, the stairs were a place of hope.

The Forty Steps enabled reunifying Korean families who had lost one another. It also stands today as a monument to those horrible times of war, suffering, injury, death, and dislocation. A deep basis for han, the steps also bridge to a possible happiness and peace.

Today the steps form one site in a cultural district created by the municipal authority in the 1990s. Simple, rugged sculptures depict various characters and scenes of life then. Enjoy the many works of art, restaurants and shops in the area. Also stop to climb or descend the steps. A sculpture of a man playing an accordion rests midway. From the Life in Korea webpage, I've read the song "Gyeongsang-do Lady" plays nearby.

At the top of the steps is a memorial display in the Donggwang Dong office building. Next time I visit, I want to see the Forty Steps Memorial Hall located there.

What's this mediating accordionist? His music waits in time, awaiting the rebirth of a Korean peninsula at peace. No more armistice. No more weapons of mass destruction. No more separation of North and South. No more power rivalries and constellations of allies and competitors? Will his real brother ever find the steps to reunite with this statue and bring it to life?

The song, Arirang, also came to mind when I visited this place. Someone should write a version that focuses on Forty Steps Stairway. Like the lyrics of this perhaps most famous Korean folk song, the steps represent a passage. They mark a way from past to future among people who love one another, a dream or myth or hope for two beloveds to unite again in future. The Forty Steps meant a place for loved ones to meet again for many people. They still mean that for Korean leaders and families divided North and South, and for the divided countries themselves. I'm going to tell you that a cousin to this song is the famous hymn, "Shall We Gather at The River".

One day the leaders of a unified Korea will meet in this place, I hope. I hope they'll call for erecting another district, cultural symbols, and museum to the fruition of this place's solemn yet open and inviting call.

When I visited this place with my Korean friend's son, we stood at the base of these steps for a few pictures. When I later viewed the pictures, a young girl was sitting by the accordion player midway up the steps gesturing with two "V's", which is a sign of peace. At the nearby Korean railway station is the Gate of Peace, a beautiful expectation of the future in our hopes and hearts.

The Forty Steps mark a bridge for many people. This place reminds us of the need to bring together the divided. This fundamental tendency in humanity is neither our only tendency nor perhaps the major human drive. Yet, the Forty Steps calmly and perennially calls on the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan, Russia and the entire world to deal with and honor the memory and sufferings of the Korean people. The Forty Steps represent life, which is a fundamental human purpose, and my dear Korea, may we never forget it!

Bernard Rowan is associate provost for contract administration and professor of political science at ChicagoStateUniversity. He is a past fellow of the Korea Foundation and former visiting professor at HanyangUniversity. Reach him at browan10@yahoo.com

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