“The Hymn of Death” (사의 찬미)

By Jae-Ha Kim
Substack
January 24, 2022

☆☆☆☆
Kim Woo-Jin (played by Lee Jong-Suk)
Yun Sim-Deok (played by Shin Hye-Sun)
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.

“The Hymn of Death” is a bittersweet three-hour mini-series that tells the real-life story of Yum Sim-Deok — Joseon’s first soprano — and Kim Yoo-Jin, a renowned writer and playwright. Set during the period when Korea was under Japanese rule, the tragic story is familiar to many Koreans. 

Beautifully paced, especially for such a short series, “The Hymn of Death” sets the tone early on. The couple’s lives aren’t their own, but rather vehicles for their families. Woo-Jin is the son of a wealthy businessman, who had allowed his child to study literature in Japan, under the condition that he will “get it out of his system” and return home to run the family’s company.

Sim-Deok is the sole provider for her destitute family. She is responsible for educating her two younger siblings, both of whom want to follow in her musical footsteps. She is beautiful and educated, with a gorgeous singing voice, but that can’t compensate for her family’s lack of social status (and finances). The best she can hope for, her mother tells her, is to marry any man who is willing to provide for her entire family.

In Japan, she meets Woo-Jin. They at first are adversarial students, but slowly grow fond of each other. They are an intellectual and artistic match for each other. Though they have to put up with being treated as less than in a country that has taken away their own country’s freedom, they experience the kind of personal freedom with each other that not’s possible in Joseon — where there are expectations as to how they shall live. Here, their lives are their own — at least temporarily.

Each is aware of the roles that have been set for them since childhood. But the series makes it clear that they’re not equals. He has the luxury of making mistakes, because he has a high-powered family to back him up. She doesn’t. Rumors abound about her lack of propriety and how she’s earning a living. Though she is a classical singer, female artists of that era were often regarded as little more than women of ill repute.

The climatic finale is languid, poetic, beautiful and heart-wrenchingly distressing. It is not the ending that anyone wants. But for Woo-Jin and Sim-Deok, it was the only way they thought they could be together in peace.

Airdates: Six episodes — each just 35 minutes long — aired on SBS from November 27 to December 4, 2018. Netflix turned them into three hour-long episodes for its streaming site.

“While You Were Sleeping” Connection:

Lee Jong-Suk agreed to take on this role as a favor to director Park Soo-Jin, whom Lee had previously worked with on “While You Were Sleeping.” Some of his co-stars from that K-drama also appear in “Hymn of Death.”

Hwang Young-Hee:
“While You Were Sleeping” role: The female lead’s mother.
“The Hymn of Death” role: Sim-Deok’s mother, who wants to marry her off to a rich man.

Kim Won-Hae:
“While You Were Sleeping” role: A detective working for the Prosecution office.
“The Hymn of Death” role: Sim-Deok’s sickly and unemployed father.

Lee Sang-Yeob:
“While You Were Sleeping” role: An aggressively immoral attorney.
“The Hymn of Death” role: A wealthy suitor who promises to take care of Sim-Deok’s entire family if she marries him.

Shin Jae-Ha:
“While You Were Sleeping” role: The male lead’s younger brother.
“The Hymn of Death” role: Sim-Deok’s younger brother.

Additionally, Lee and Shin had worked together in “School 2013,” along with Lee Ji-Hoon (who portrays one of members of the Dong Woo-Hee Theater — who also has a crush on Sim-Deok).

Spoiler Alert:

Woo-Jin was already in a loveless arranged marriage when he met Sim-Deok. In this series, he says he married his wife because his father wanted him to and it was his duty to obey. But when his father ordered him to break up with Sim-Deok, he refused.

On August 4, 1926, the lovers chose to die by suicide together, jumping off a ship on route to Busan. They were both 29 years old. Her recording of “Hymn of Death” went on to sell over 100,000 copies after she died.

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