Yu, Gwan-Sun is an important symbolic figure in the history of independent movement of South Korea. When the Independent Movement occurred on March 1st, 1919, she was seventeen years old but she was a leader of the movement in Aune in Cheonan. She was...
Yu, Gwan-Sun is an important symbolic figure in the history of independent movement of South Korea. When the Independent Movement occurred on March 1st, 1919, she was seventeen years old but she was a leader of the movement in Aune in Cheonan. She was sent to the Seodaemun Prison and died for the country there in 1920.
Despite her sacrifice for the country, she has received some negative recognitions because of her look, which is sometimes described as ‘not pretty’ or ‘wicked’. This negative recognitions on her come from a photography that was taken in Seodaemun prison.
This photography was taken just before she got severely tortured from the Japanese colonizers. In the picture, her left face looks badly swollen. This study restores her normal face by using 3D digital technology after getting rid of her swollen part. As the result, we confirmed that Yu’s face is slender and her lips are thinner than ones in the previous picture, looking a rather normal teenager.
We examined her height along with her face. According to her prison record, she is 5尺 6寸, which means 169.68cm. But the examination tells us that 6 of 6寸 was misread. It rather should be ‘0’. Therefore, Yu’s height is 5尺 0寸, which means 151.5cm.
As seen above, this study tries to restore a face and height of a historic figure, Yu, Gwan-Sun because we want Yu’s achievement and sacrifice to be reevaluated and want to inform the true historical facts. This study will contribute to reconsidering Yu’s life, which has been underestimate because of her look. This restored photos can be used in school textbooks and historic museums to teach the public her sacrifice for the country properly.