Near the close of the 19th century, young revolutionary Seo Jai Pil inveighed against the Neo-Confucian scourge of corruption and barbaric patriarchy in the Yi Dynasty. Nearly a century later, his third and posthumous homecoming would turn into a grim déjà vu lesson that the ancient habits were very much alive among the hosting dignitaries. 

On Jan. 5, 1951, with daughter/soulmate Muriel at his deathbed, the visionary architect of modern Korea gave up his last breath in his adopted country. At every waking moment before then he wanted to know what was happening in his war-ravaged homeland. The fratricidal civil war he had so often forewarned against dealt a final blow to the lonely octogenarian in exile. 

And Muriel, handling her father’s historical legacy, wouldn’t allow her father’s remains to be returned to the divided land despite mounting grassroots pressure. After all, the land whose independence he had fought for had forsaken his lifelong pleas for a united, whole Korea. Finally, he was hounded out of South Korea for the last time in 1948 by no other than his former pupil and protégé Syngman Rhee and his autocratic regime. Muriel was determined to maintain his resting place near their home in Media, Pa.

Tong Sung Suhr, carrying the ashes of Seo Jai Pil with the white sash around his neck, stands in front of Philip Jaisohn’s memorial monument at Rose Tree Park in Media, Pa., before heading off to Korea. He is flanked by family friend Mike Iktae Jang (holding the Jaisohn portrait) and his son Philip (with the nation’s highest medal for civilians). The others, unidentified, are Korean dignitaries.

In Los Angeles, however, community lawyer Tong Sung Suhr, a fourth-generation descendant of Philip Jaisohn, wouldn’t give up pleading with the grieving daughter for Seo’s return.

 

IN THIS CONCLUDING TWO-PART STORY, TONG SUNG, WHO CARRIED HIS GREAT-GRANDUNCLE’S ASHES IN A BOX-COFFIN ABOARD A COMMERCIAL FLIGHT, RECALLS HIS BITTERSWEET JOURNEY IN THE SPRING OF 1994:

The first time the subject of bringing Seo Jai Pil to Korea was discussed in earnest was among the general public during the military regime of [South Korean President] Park Chung-hee. When the first formal invitation to have Seo Jai Pil home was extended, his daughter Muriel definitely did not wish to have her father’s remains taken back to Korea.

After he escaped to the United States following the failed coup in 1884, Seo anglicized his name to Philip Jaisohn, and married Muriel Armstrong, the daughter of Col. [George] Armstrong, who invented the U.S. rail postal system, and a cousin of James Buchanan, the 15th president of the United States. They had two daughters, Stephanie and Muriel. A constant companion of Dr. Jaisohn, the younger daughter never married, helping her father all her life.

Part of a thank you letter from Muriel Jaisohn to Mike Iktae Jang and Tong Sung that read: “I cannot find words to express my gratitude for providing such a beautiful resting place for our beloved ones. Without your and Tong’s wonderful generosity and kindness, I could never have made this possible, and I shall always be eternally grateful. The beauty and peace of the cemetery have brought me great comfort — you have no idea how much it has meant to me. I was delighted with you and Tong, and it was just wonderful for him to come all the way from California. Both of you have been kinder to me than I deserve and I really do not know how to thank you enough for all you have done. Please know that my gratitude is beyond words, and that you have brought me comfort and happiness. My father would be so proud of you. With best of wishes. Always, Muriel.”

Muriel was taking care of her father’s affairs even after his death, and she was adamant in her opposition to having her father returned to Korea. After all, she accompanied her father when he was called back to Korea in 1947 as the advisor to Gen. John R. Hodge, the [American] military governor. She saw for herself how shabbily her father was treated by his former top student, Syngman Rhee, and his henchmen, and how her father had to beat a hasty retreat back to America after he became more than a persona non grata in his own country.