아시아 10/10/19 ‘Don’t Cry, Tonj’ makes everyone weep - By Stephen Hong, Seoul

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‘Don’t Cry, Tonj’ makes everyone weep

Published Date: October 19, 2010

By Stephen Hong, Seoul

A picture of the late Korean Salesian Father John Lee Tae-seok held by a mourning Tonj child

The audience at the film Don’t Cry, Tonj, the life story of a Korean Salesian priest, ignored the title, with most people weeping openly during the  opening scene.

“I don’t know how much I cried. I resented God having called the great man so early,” posted a viewer in Seoul on the Internet.

Father John Lee Tae-seok served the sick, poor and children in Tonj, Sudan.

Scenes showed Sudanese children marching in tears, holding and kissing a picture of the late Korean priest, whom they regarded as a father.

Father Lee graduated from a medical college in 1987 and was ordained as Salesian priest in 2001, moving to Tonj.

“But as Jesus said, as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me,” he replied when questioned about why he chose the town.

During nine years in Tonj, he built a clinic for Hansen’s disease patients and a boarding school, he set up a brass band to raise children’s spirits during the country’s ongoing civil war.

Father Lee died in January 2010 at the age of 48, two years after he was diagnosed with colorectal cancer.

The movie was released on Sept. 9 and attracted more than 100,000 viewers within a month.

The film will also be shown in Los Angeles upon the request of Koreans living there.