{"id":15780,"date":"2026-11-12T16:07:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-12T16:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=15780"},"modified":"2026-11-12T16:07:00","modified_gmt":"2026-11-12T16:07:00","slug":"how-a-close-friend-of-labor-activist-jeon-tae-il-keeps-his-legacy-alive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=15780","title":{"rendered":"How a close friend of labor activist Jeon Tae-il keeps his legacy alive"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Choi<\/picture>
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Choi Jong-in, chairman of the Jeon Tae-il and Lee So-sun Scholarship Foundation, touches a sewing machine, Nov. 3 in a recreation of an attic garment workshop at the Jeon Tae-il Memorial Hall in Seoul’s Jongno District. Like Jeon, Choi worked as a garment cutter. Workshops at Pyeonghwa Market were built in cramped attic spaces where workers could barely stand upright, forcing them to endure long hours in harsh conditions. Korea Times photo by Jung Da-bin <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Choi Jong-in, 78, still aches for his friend Jeon Tae-il, who was just 22. When Jeon set himself on fire in the middle of Pyeonghwa Market in Seoul’s Jung District on Nov. 13, 1970, Choi was the first to rush to his side, taking off his jacket to smother the flames.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis hair was burning and curling like nylon fabric, his lips were turning inside out, but he sprang back to his feet and shouted, \u2018We are not machines!\u201d<\/p>\n

More than half a century has passed, and one might expect Choi to recount the incident with the composure of an elderly man who has come to terms with life. But for a while, he cannot bring himself to continue.<\/p>\n

He has never really given an interview about Jeon. While Jeon’s mother, the late Lee So-sun (who died in 2011), was alive, Choi says he held back because he did not want to cause her further grief. Even after she passed away and was reunited with her son, he found it too painful to speak.<\/p>\n

The trauma never entirely left him, but it did not break him. Instead, he turned his guilt over losing Jeon, chairman of the Samdong Friendship Association (Samdonghoe), into a driving force. He led the Cheonggye Garment Workers’ Union, established to represent workers at Pyeonghwa Market, for five years. He later broke into his decadelong savings and secretly took out a loan without telling his wife to establish a scholarship foundation in 2021, named after Jeon and his mother.<\/p>\n

\u201cLearning was what Tae-il had always dreamed of. He had been hungry for education his entire life. I also have to be able to face him without shame when I meet him again someday.\u201d<\/p>\n

The interview with Choi Jong-in, 78, chairman of the Jeon Tae-il and Lee So-sun Scholarship Foundation, took place at the Jeon Tae-il Memorial Hall in Seoul’s Jongno District on Nov. 3, 10 days ahead of the 56th anniversary of Jeon’s self-immolation protest on Nov. 13.<\/p>\n

\"Choi<\/picture>
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Choi Jong-in stands before an excerpt from a memoir written by Jeon Tae-il during a period when he made the momentous decision to risk his life after confronting the harsh realities of the world. Korea Times photo by Jung Da-bin <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Q. Do you remember your first meeting with Jeon?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A. In 1969, a senior garment cutter who worked with me at Pyeonghwa Market introduced us. Jeon had business cards made for himself that read, “Jeon Tae-il, chairman of the Fool’s Association” \u2014 the predecessor to Samdonghoe. I thought he was an unusual fellow. He was interested in everything and acted with lightning speed. He never hesitated.<\/p>\n

People like me, who knew absolutely nothing about the Labor Standards Act, gradually gathered around him. In September 1970, we formed Samdonghoe. Jeon, as chairman, came up with virtually all the ideas. We investigated the appalling working conditions at Pyeonghwa Market and submitted petitions to the Labor Administration.<\/p>\n

Q. Dongdaemun’s Pyeonghwa Market vividly illustrated both the bright and dark sides of Korea’s development era. The working conditions were particularly horrific.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A. About 40 percent of the workers were young apprentices, mostly girls aged 12 to 15. The first floor was occupied by shops, while the second and third floors were entirely garment workshops. To maximize factory space, business owners built double-deck attic rooms with no windows, where workers could not even stand upright.<\/p>\n

In those cramped attics, without a single ventilation fan, teenage girls worked from 8 a.m. until 10 or 11 p.m., with no days off, for ridiculously low wages. They suffered from tuberculosis, eye diseases and neuralgia because of the dust from the fabric. Jeon saw this as a social problem.<\/p>\n

Q. You witnessed Jeon’s final moments from closer than almost anyone else.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A. Jeon proposed that members of Samdonghoe hold a demonstration on Nov. 13, including a symbolic burning of the Labor Standards Act. Reports about the terrible working conditions had appeared in newspapers, including the social affairs section of the Kyunghyang Shinmun, but nothing changed.<\/p>\n

It was 1 p.m. Pyeonghwa Market’s central plaza was usually crowded, with thousands of people passing through during lunch breaks to look for jobs and conduct other business. Suddenly, from somewhere, Tae-il came stumbling into the middle of the plaza, engulfed in flames. He shouted, “Enforce the Labor Standards Act! We are not machines” and then collapsed … I rushed over, took off my jacket and tried to put out the fire. But he suddenly sprang back to his feet. Even now, whenever I think about that moment, I cry.<\/p>\n

\"Choi<\/picture>
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Choi Jong-in, right, stands in mourning clothes beside the late Lee So-sun, Jeon Tae-il’s mother, at Jeon’s funeral at Moran Park Cemetery in Maseok, Gyeonggi Province, on Nov. 18, 1970. Courtesy of Jeon Tae-il Foundation <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Choi was born the sixth of 10 children \u2014 seven sons and three daughters \u2014 in a farming family in Yeongam, South Jeolla Province. Poverty was merciless. After barely completing elementary school, he was pushed into work to help support his family. He began as a clothing sales assistant in Mokpo before moving to Pyeonghwa Market at 18 as a garment-cutting apprentice. His exceptional manual skills earned him recognition as a fully qualified cutter after just three years.<\/p>\n

His life took a different course after meeting Jeon and losing him. In place of their friend, who had become a human torch, Choi and his fellow workers immediately wrote a blood oath: \u201cDo not let Jeon’s death be in vain.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Myeongdong St. Mary’s Hospital, where Jeon had been taken (the site is now occupied by the Catholic Center), Choi made a promise to Lee So-sun, whom he met for the first time there.<\/p>\n

\u201cMother, we will never let Tae-il die in vain. We will carry on what he wanted to do. Please trust us.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1971, the year after Jeon’s self-immolation protest, Choi became the second branch chairman of the Cheonggye Garment Workers’ Union, serving for five years.<\/p>\n

Q. Was that also the beginning of your relationship with Lee So-sun?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A. When I arrived at St. Mary’s Hospital, there was this small woman who looked so kind and gentle. I wore mourning clothes and served as the chief mourner at Tae-il’s funeral. I felt I had to take on the role of the eldest son in his place.<\/p>\n

From then on, I regarded her as my own mother. I even moved into her home in Ssangmun-dong, Dobong District, Seoul, and lived there for nearly two years. It was in a shantytown back then, and Tae-il’s friends and union members came by every day. We would eat dinner at her place and hold discussions.<\/p>\n

Even when there was nothing to eat but bean sprout soup seasoned with salt and red pepper flakes, it tasted wonderful.<\/p>\n

Q. What kind of person was Lee So-sun?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A. She was strong-willed, clearheaded and incredibly quick to make decisions. When we were young and hot-blooded, throwing ourselves into union activities without thinking about the consequences, she would repeatedly rein us in, saying, “You must not get arrested.”<\/p>\n

Q. You served as branch chairman of the Cheonggye Garment Workers’ Union for five years.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A. Low wages and unpaid wages were commonplace. At the time, the Japanese-style piece-rate payment system, known as “gaekgong,” was widespread at Pyeonghwa Market. Workers had no fixed monthly salary or allowances; they were paid according to the number of items they produced. It was a system designed to make people work more.<\/p>\n

Even the apprentices were paid not by the factory owners but by the sewing-machine operators directly above them. The owners could make them work as much as they wanted while paying them next to nothing. That had to change.<\/p>\n

Through our union activities, we secured a system requiring employers to pay workers directly. We also campaigned to install ventilation fans, demanded regular health checkups and organized educational programs for union members. There was so much to do.<\/p>\n

Support for workers<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the 1980s, Choi entered the business world while continuing to earn a living. He ran a large garment factory and enjoyed more than a decade of success. His wealth grew, but so did a weight in his heart. Was it guilt? A sense of responsibility? He could not quite explain it.<\/p>\n

The more successful he became as a businessman, the more Jeon Tae-il occupied his thoughts. Eventually, he shut down the business. Everyone thought he was crazy. But he walked away without hesitation and returned to the side of the workers.<\/p>\n

He decided to support workers who longed for an education and their children.<\/p>\n

\u201cTae-il and I never had the chance to study. We were at an age when we should have been learning, but we simply couldn’t. Surely, these days, no one should have to give up studying just because their family is poor.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was the beginning of his scholarship work.<\/p>\n

\"Choi<\/picture>
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Choi Jong-in looks at an old photograph of Jeon Tae-il at the Jeon Tae-il Memorial Hall on Nov. 3. Korea Times photo by Jung Da-bin <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Q. Why did you give up a successful business?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A. I ran a clothing brand for nearly 13 years. It was doing quite well, but I simply closed it down. The more successful the business became, the more I felt I was somehow tarnishing Jeon’s name.<\/p>\n

Establishing a scholarship foundation was also a way to carry on his wishes. Even while running my own business, I had set up an in-house scholarship group, made donations and provided scholarships to students at nearby high schools. We spent more than 300 million won ($205,000) on scholarships in the 1980s. That was a considerable sum at the time.<\/p>\n

Q. You began pursuing scholarship activities in earnest in 2016.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A. Starting in 2005, I saved 800,000 won ($548) a month for 10 years. By the end, I had exactly 100 million won. I used that as seed money, together with contributions from members of Cheonguhoe, a social association of former Cheonggye Garment Workers’ Union members, to provide scholarships to underprivileged teenagers and children of workers.<\/p>\n

But the funding needed to be sustainable. At some point, the money ran out. I realized we needed to establish a legally registered foundation. The problem was that setting one up required 500 million won ($342,500) in initial capital. Then I remembered I owned a small building.<\/p>\n

Q. Did you raise the 500 million won by using the building as collateral?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A. I used the building as collateral to take out a loan. My wife didn’t even know about it at first. She found out three months after I borrowed the money. Of course, all hell broke loose at home. She resented me, and I was practically kicked out of the house. It was a difficult time.<\/p>\n

I eventually sold that building, too. Interest rates had been rising for several years, and the interest payments became too much to bear. What did I do with the proceeds? I put that money into the scholarship foundation as well. I feel very sorry to my family.<\/p>\n

Q .The Jeon Tae-il and Lee So-sun Scholarship Foundation was launched in 2021. You gave up your business, took out loans and even sold your building. Did it really have to go that far?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A. Many people helped us, including Jeon’s longtime friends, former members of the Cheonggye Garment Workers’ Union and others who remember him. Thanks to them, we can award scholarships to 10 to 15 people every year.<\/p>\n

We have no choice. We live with the thought that the name Jeon Tae-il is always with us. I have to be able to face him when I meet him again someday.<\/p>\n

Although Choi established the foundation, he initially stayed out of the spotlight. It was not until late 2024 that he took over as chairman and began leading the organization. Over the past decade, including through the foundation, he has provided scholarships to approximately 300 people.<\/p>\n

Q. This summer, Chung Mong-joon, chairman of the Asan Foundation, donated 500 million won to your scholarship foundation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jeon Soon-ok, Tae-il’s younger sister and director of the Jeon Tae-il Memorial Hall, helped connect us. I heard the two had known each other since their days as lawmakers. Thanks to the donation, we now have some breathing room when it comes to providing scholarships next year.<\/p>\n

‘Support the Jeon Tae-ils of today’<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last month, the Jeon Tae-il and Lee So-sun Scholarship Foundation awarded scholarships to four children of workers, including those of Homeplus employees facing the threat of layoffs, golf course caddies classified as workers in special employment arrangements and digital content creators.<\/p>\n

The friend of Jeon Tae-il, now approaching 80, says his greatest wish is to see the foundation run smoothly even after he is gone. He makes no secret of the urgent need for donations. The aim, he says, is to \u201csupport the Jeon Tae-ils of today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen scholarship recipients tell me they want to become people who speak up for those in need, just as Tae-il did, I feel comforted. I want to help them go to university and even study abroad. That would be one way to ensure Tae-il’s death was not in vain.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Jeon Tae-il and Lee So-sun Scholarship Foundation’s website is chuntaeilsf.co.kr.<\/p>\n

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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Choi Jong-in, chairman of the Jeon Tae-il and Lee So-sun Scholarship Foundation, touches a sewing machine, Nov. 3 in a recreation of an attic garment workshop at the Jeon Tae-il Memorial Hall in Seoul’s Jongno District. Like Jeon, Choi worked as a garment cutter. Workshops at Pyeonghwa Market were built in cramped attic spaces where…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_templately_pack_id":"","_templately_imported_at":"","_templately_source":"","_templately_import_session_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-korea","category-trending-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t