Words:  백기완 Paek Ki-Wahn
Music:  김종률 Kim Chong-Ryul
Arranged:  Miguel Heatwole, 1991

Im-eul Wihan Haengjingok was written by Paek Ki Wan from his South Korean prison cell to commemorate the student demonstrators murdered by the military dictatorship of Chun Doo Hwan at Kwangju in 1980. The massacre was never forgotten and for the next decade and a half the regime's riot police grew very familiar with this song, until in 1997 the dictator and ex-president Roh Tae Woo were sentenced to life in prison for ordering the killings...and then pardoned.

사랑도 명예도 이름도 남김없이

Sa-rang-do myeong-ye-do i-reum-do nam-gi-meop-ssi

한평생 싸우자던 뜨거운 맹세

Han-pyeong-saeng ssa-u-ja-deon tteu-geo-un maeng-se

동지는 간데 없고 깃발만 나부껴

Dong-ji-neun gan-de eop-kko git-ppal-man na-bu-kkyeo

새날이 올때까지 흔들리지 말자

Sae-na-ri ol-ttae-kka-ji heun-deul-li-ji mal-jja

세월은 흘러가도 산천은 안다

Se-wo-reun heul-leo-ga-do san-cheo-neun an-da

깨어나서 외치는 뜨거운 함성

Kkae-eo-na-seo oe-chi-neun tteu-geo-un ham-seong

앞서서 나가니산자여 따르라

Ap-sseo-seo ga-na-ni san-ja-yeo tta-reu-ra

앞서서 나가니산자여 따르라

Ap-sseo-seo ga-na-ni san-ja-yeo tta-reu-ra

앞서서 나가니산자여 따르라

Gone; their love, their names, their glory
Gone. But we will pledge our lives;
Crying aloud in fury
Each of us who yet survives!
So many comrades perished;
Only their flags are stirring now.
The new day their hopes had cherished
Dawns when we fulfill our vow!
Time will pass. We won't forget!
The mountains and rivers know!
Vast our battlecry and yet
Louder it will grow!
Wake! and see the path ahead
That our beloved marched upon.
They who led the way have gone
We the living must go on!