Funeral Held for Slain Mount Geumgang Tourist

You must’ve been terrified…”

The funeral for a South Korean tourist shot to death Friday by a North Korean soldier in Mount Geumgang, Park Wang-ja, was held yesterday at Asan Medical Center in Seoul.

Her bereaved family wailed when her body was placed in the coffin at 9 a.m. Her 23-year-old son Bang Jae-jeong staggered and her younger sister Park Mi-ran, 42, collapsed and cried, “Why do you go alone. It’s not fair.”

Park’s older sister, 55, howled upon seeing her young sister’s pale face, “I’m so horrified your lips turned pale.” Park Wang-ja was 53 at the time of her death.

The deceased’s relatives then went to the ceremonial funeral hall on the third floor and held a church service before the funeral procession began.

They sang hymns and prayed in front of Park Wang-ja’s picture. Her teary-eyed son stared blankly at the picture throughout the service. He caressed the picture from time to time, placing a white chrysanthemum.

Park Wang-ja’s husband Bang Yeong-min, who had kept a straight face, finally burst into tears when his son began wailing while clutching his mother’s picture. In addition to her relatives, some 30 employees of Hyundai Asan also cried at seeing the father and son hugging and wailing.

One relative said, “They were so shocked and the prolonged funeral service made us all exhausted. The relatives of the diseased are all run down.”

Park Wang-ja’s 80-something mother went to Seoul for the funeral. Despite her frail health, she traveled from Gimje, North Jeolla Province, to see her daughter for the last time.

Family members, however, made her stay on the first floor for fear that she might break down if she saw the funeral.

After the church service, Park Wang-ja’s body was moved to the funeral car. Her husband and son sobbed while standing abreast with her picture in the middle. Their cousin held the deceased’s picture and sometimes kissed it when overwhelmed with sorrow.

Park Wang-ja’s sister clutched the coffin, crying, “How can you go leaving your poor son alone?”

The funeral car headed for a public cemetery in the northern Seoul suburb of Dongducheon. Two buses carrying the bereaved family and the Hyundai Asan staff followed.

niceshin@donga.com