Evening, December 28th: Village Leader Ji Tae Kim Released on Bail!
Last night a few minutes after 5:00pm, Ji Tae Kim, Village Leader of Daechuri and Director of the Paengsung Residents Committee, was release from An-yang prison.
On June 5th Village Leader Kim was arrested when he willingly went forward to meet with police. After having been imprisoned for over seven months he has now returned to the bosom of his family and the village residents.
Upon his release, Village Leader Kim was greeted outside the An-yang prison by friends and relatives. He then returned to Daechuri where he exchanged warm greetings with the jikimi (defenders) and village elders who were there waiting for him.
Everyone is filled with happiness at this event. Please join us in celebrating.
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Paengsung Residents Committee Director Ji Tae Kim’s Shocking Release
After being imprisoned for 209 days, Director Kim is reunited with Family and Village Residents
Reporter Jung Hwan Suh
In a shocking turn of events Ji Tae Kim, director of Paengsung Residents Committee and Village Leader of Daechuri, was released from An-yang Prison on December 28th at 5:30pm.
After being imprisoned when we went forth willingly to dialogue with police and being confined for 209 days, Director Kim was released on bail.
“They told me to come out instantly. I didn’t even have a chance to say good-bye to my cellmates before I was let out,” Village Leader Kim said with a somewhat confused expression. “I’m really a toxic guy. Everyone tells me it’s not good to smoke after you haven’t for a long time and here I am smoking” he added laughing happily.
Before he could even finish his cigarette, KCPT affiliates had rushed up to embrace him and join in his laughter.
As he spoke with them Village Leader Kim received and took a bite of plain bean curd- customarily the first nourishment of newly-release prisoners. Presently, his mother, Elder Pil-soon Hwang, his wife, Im-soon Cho, his Aunt, Young-nyu Kim, and members of the Residents Committee arrived.
For a moment speechless, Mrs. Hwang, Village Leader Kim’s mother, wrapped her arms tightly around his chest, biting back tears. Then she quickly brought forward of pair of clean clothes. Holding them out to him she said, “You’ve suffered so much, haven’t you? I’ve brought clothes for you, so please change.”
Next, it was Im-soon Cho, Village Leader Kim’s wife’s turn. “This is so good. Now it is as if my heart has forgotten all its pain,” she cried, pouring forth laughter and tears all at once.
A short while after, waiting for his first meal as a free man in a nearby restaurant, Village Leader Kim conversed with his family and colleagues, at the same time busily answered the phone calls that came in from all over.
Later, arriving in his village, Mr. Kim stepped out of the car in which he was riding in front of the Daechuri History Museum, his face filled with emotion. From there he walked to his house, continuously met along the way by residents who embraced him warmly.
In the house from which he had been absent for over seven months, Village Leader Kim presented himself to his father, Elder Suk-gyung Kim, who solemnly received his bow.
“Father, I’m so sorry,” he choked through his sobs.
Finally breaking down himself, Elder Kim gathered his son in his arms. For a long while, father and son sat together biting back tears.
Back outside, Village Leader Kim was reunited with this son, Hong-gi Kim (3rd year in high school). Once again, he shared an emotional embrace with his wife.
“Right now, I’m quite stunned” he confessed.
But when asked “If the village residents ask you to help them fight once more, how will you answer?” he responded in a steady and confident voice, “From the beginning I pledged I would follow the residents and this has not changed in the slightest.”
In response to a question concerning the five-year delay in the completion of the base expansion, he commented, “The people who decide the policies are the ones who have announced this, but I wonder if the people who are carrying out the project don’t have something different in mind,” clearly without expectations.
Concerning his health Mr. Kim, who has been suffering from hepatitis, confessed, “I have not said anything until now for fear of worrying others, but in fact my condition is not good.”
Later, Mr. Kim met Residents Committee officials and friends in the village assembly hall. There his voice could be heard strongly in the midst of the conversation:
“I haven’t died yet!”
“The Song of Comrades” had only just been sung; it seemed there would be very little sleep in Daechuri that night.
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