Kim Woo-young Gwanggyo Column 'Mr. Toilet Shim Jae-deok', We Miss You Even as Time Passes

I received a call early last week from Lee Won-hyung, director of Haewujae in Imok-dong, Jangan-gu.

“Brother, the 16th is the first of the three fu periods. Let's share a bowl of samgyetang together. Former Mayor Shim Jae-deok is treating us.”

I was about to reply, ‘How can someone who passed away over 13 years ago treat us to samgyetang?’ but instead said, “I'll be there, I have to go no matter what.”

A few weeks earlier, while stopping by a favorite restaurant late one sleepless night, I happened to meet Shim Hyun-gi, the youngest son of the late Mayor Shim Jae-deok, and his daughter-in-law, who told me about this statue. Ah, this is why I should drink less... (Last night, those drinkers J and O kept calling me until midnight, persistently urging me to come out.)

The unveiling ceremony for the ‘Mr. Toilet’ statue of late Shim Jae-deok was held at Haewujae. About 200 invited guests attended, including the deceased's wife, Seon Jung-seon, and his children, Suwon Special City Mayor Lee Jae-jun, former Suwon Mayor Yom Tae-young, and others who shared his vision during his lifetime.

I was delighted to see many faces I hadn't seen frequently in recent years due to COVID-19 and personal circumstances.

The statue of Mayor Shim Jae-deok revealed through the unveiling ceremony showed him sitting on a bench. It was so remarkably similar to how he looked in life that I could only marvel. When his eldest son, Shim Young-chan, sat beside the statue for a photo, he looked so much like his twin that those of us present laughed together.

But inside I muttered, “Why were you so busy that you left us at just 70?”

Because of Shim Jae-deok, who said “I work with the heart of a farmer sowing seeds. The harvest will be gathered by our descendants,” Suwon became a city of the world. The Hwaseong Haenggung Palace, which he led in restoring, and Hwaseong Fortress, which he had designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, draw crowds of tourists from around the globe. The Suwon Stream, which nearly disappeared, now bustles with walkers, and Seohho Lake, once a dead lake, has come back to life as a haven for birds. Suwon became the mecca of the global toilet culture movement, and the World Cup Stadium hosts professional soccer matches and international competitions, becoming a pilgrimage site for soccer fans. On the 16th, a friendly match between Tottenham with Son Heung-min and Sevilla drew large crowds. Some visitors came the day before to tour Hwaseong and enjoy a day at the Tongdak Street and the newly emerging alleyways of Haenggung-dong.

How happy would the ‘seed-sowing farmer’ Shim Jae-deok have been to see all this? Ah, you left far too early.

Shim Jae-deok served as mayor of Suwon for the 22nd and 23rd terms as an independent candidate and was also elected as the 17th National Assembly member. In 2007, he founded the World Toilet Association and served as its first chairman until January 2009, making groundbreaking improvements to toilet culture worldwide.

Furthermore, he demolished his own residence in Imok-dong, Jangan-gu, and built Haewujae (解憂齋), modeled after the shape of a toilet bowl. After his passing, his family donated both the building and the land to Suwon City. Haewujae is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the ‘First and Largest Toilet-Shaped Structure.’

At the unveiling ceremony, his wife, Mrs. Seon Jung-seon, said, “The restrooms at our country's highway rest areas and public restrooms have been transformed to world-class standards,” and “This was thanks to Mayor Shim and your interest and support.”

I also remember Mayor Lee Jae-jun's words. Mayor Lee was a professor at Hansung University at the time Haewujae was established and was instrumental in planning it with him. Mayor Lee pledged, “In honor of the late mayor's will, I will work to make Suwon a clean and beautiful city, a world-class prestigious special city.” In his SNS post on the 16th, he recalled, “When Haewujae was the former mayor's private residence, I would visit him occasionally and we would dream together about Suwon's development and envision its future. Seeing the statue in that old place brings waves of longing and joy.”

I agree. Though it is a statue, sitting beside it brings vivid memories of countless projects we worked on together: the restoration of Hwaseong Haenggung Palace, the movement to revive the Suwon Stream, publishing ‘Monthly Suwon Love,’ hosting various events, the 200th anniversary of Hwaseong Fortress construction, publishing the municipal newspaper ‘Forever Green Suwon,’ and the movement to revive Seohho Lake.

Ah, on a day like this, I should have placed before the statue a glass of ‘Yongji Daewol,’ rice wine made at Suwon Brewery, or ‘Clear Suwon Stream Wine,’ a mix of cider and soju, or ‘Bulhui.’ But since Yongji Daewol and Bulhui are no longer produced, I'll return in a few days with a bottle of ‘Haenggung-dong-i,’ a liquor made by Haenggung-dong residents.