Defected North Korean state poet: Truth stronger weapon than nuclear program
22 replies, posted
[img]http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/2010-2019/Wires/Online/2012-07-01/AP/Images/Britain%20North%20Korean%20Poet.JPEG-0fc5c.jpg[/img]
[quote]
LONDON — He says he was one of late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s favorite propaganda artists, singing the praises of the Dear Leader in dozens of poems. But these days Jang Jin-sung says he prefers to tell the truth about North Korea.
The former state poet, who defected to South Korea in 2004, now writes to tell the world about what he calls the brutality of everyday life in the North.
“North Korea has nuclear programs, but South Korea has the media,” said Jang, who is in London for a global poetry festival involving poets from countries competing in the July 27 to Aug. 12 London Olympics. “Truth is the strongest weapon.”
Jang’s poems now tell of public executions, hunger and desperate lives. He said that the piece he chose to submit to London’s Poetry Parnassus festival, “I Sell My Daughter for 100 Won,” is based on one of his worst memories in North Korea - recollections of a mother trying to sell her daughter in the market place.
“The life of a North Korean is not about living, but about how to sustain life,” he said through an interpreter. Jang, dressed in a loose white shirt and cream trousers, spoke quietly but accompanied most sentences with emphatic hand gestures.
Jang Jin-sung is not his real name, according to South Korean news reports.
The U.S. State Department says that North Korea “maintains a record of consistent, severe human rights violations,” and the United Nations said in a recent update on the North’s humanitarian situation that the food supply remains tenuous for two-thirds of the population.
Pyongyang denies abusing its citizens.
As one of Kim’s top state poets, Jang, 40, said he was responsible for glorifying the leader in the poetry he published in the official Workers’ Party newspaper. Poets had a special role among Kim’s many propaganda artists, Jang said.
“Because of the paper shortage in North Korea, poems were the most efficient, economical way to spread propaganda,” he said.
Jang said he led a privileged life in Pyongyang and once dined with Kim, when he found out that the leader was much shorter than he was led to believe because Kim didn’t wear his normal high-heeled shoes indoors.
He also recalled being instructed to avoid looking into the leader’s eyes and instead to stare at his second shirt button. After more contact with Kim, Jang said he soon stopped believing that he was “this godlike leader of this wonderful country.”
Jang said his doubts solidified when, working in the propaganda ministry, he got hold of and read South Korean books. In 2004 he crossed the river to China, where he was wanted by Kim’s men, but agents from South Korea found him first. He then worked for the South’s intelligence agency for seven years before setting up his own online newspaper about North Korean issues earlier this year.
Jang said he believes the current regime in the North is bound to break down - not least because of the instability brought about by Kim’s death in December.
He said the son and young successor, Kim Jong Un, lacks the power and experience of his father and is surrounded by his father’s men. He did not elaborate on what serves as the basis for his beliefs on the current political situation in the North.
“It’s all about rivalries between the generations,” he said. “They don’t have the experience to deal with a situation like this, with so much power struggle. For Kim Jong Un to sustain himself he’s got to have a strong rule, controlling his people through fear of punishment or fear of reprisal.”
Jang is appearing at the Parnassus festival — a gathering of poets that organizers claim is the largest poetry festival ever staged in the United Kingdom.
Other participants included Afghanistan’s Reza Mohammadi, Kay Ryan from the United States and Karlo Mila from New Zealand.[/quote]
[url]http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/defected-north-korean-state-poet-truth-stronger-weapon-than-nuclear-program/2012/07/01/gJQA1WXmFW_story.html[/url]
[quote]Kim didn’t wear his normal high-heeled shoes indoors.[/quote]
:v:
When I saw the title, I thought North Korea had a stronger weapon.
[QUOTE=skullorz;36577985]When I saw the title, I thought North Korea had a stronger weapon.[/QUOTE]
Me too, title should be changed.
His poems, even translated, gave me goosebumps.
Maybe they're all not brainwashed to hell and back, one can hope at least!
The videos VICE did on North Korea are really insightful and interesting, its a truly insane country.
[url]http://www.vice.com/the-vice-guide-to-travel/vice-guide-to-north-korea-1-of-3[/url]
[QUOTE=Squeaken;36578155]The videos VICE did on North Korea are really insightful and interesting, its a truly insane country.
[url]http://www.vice.com/the-vice-guide-to-travel/vice-guide-to-north-korea-1-of-3[/url][/QUOTE]
I dropped my jaw when I saw the real NK.
How can they let something like that go so bad?
there must be EXTREME culture shock when you defect from NK. I can't even imagine. going from starvation, secret police, and a completely desolate country to even the simplest things that we take for granted like food and freedom. Unreal.
This is why you use caps for title words, for the people who think it's 'too ugly'.
[QUOTE=Squeaken;36578155]The videos VICE did on North Korea are really insightful and interesting, its a truly insane country.
[url]http://www.vice.com/the-vice-guide-to-travel/vice-guide-to-north-korea-1-of-3[/url][/QUOTE]
[url]http://www.vice.com/vice-news/north-korean-labor-camps-full-length[/url]
This one is good too.
this is deep
North Korea is about as Orwellian as you can get.
[QUOTE=KaIibos;36578497]there must be EXTREME culture shock when you defect from NK. I can't even imagine. going from starvation, secret police, and a completely desolate country to even the simplest things that we take for granted like food and freedom. Unreal.[/QUOTE]
"I just can't sleep unless there's someone standing next to my bed and watching me."
[QUOTE]wherever people are gathered
there are gunshots to be heard.
Today, as the crowd looks on
a man is executed.
‘You are not to feel any sympathy!
Even when he’s dead, we must kill him again!’
The loudspeakers’ words are interrupted.
Bang! Bang!
The rest of the message is delivered.
Why is it that today
the crowd is silent?
His crime: to steal a bag of rice.
His sentence: ninety bullets in his heart.
His occupation: farmer. [/QUOTE]
some of his poetry
[QUOTE=An Axolotl;36584905][url]http://www.vice.com/vice-news/north-korean-labor-camps-full-length[/url]
This one is good too.[/QUOTE]
Got anymore? these are insane.
[QUOTE=littlefoot;36578073]Maybe they're all not brainwashed to hell and back, one can hope at least![/QUOTE]
In this case it was because he was actually able to meet the god-like being all of the people are told about, and once he met him he could see he was just another person.
[QUOTE=kenji;36586091]Got anymore? these are insane.[/QUOTE]
The kids' performance in part 3 is fucking terrifying, you can feel how staged the entire thing is. The applause is all perfect and on time. The kids look so enthusiastic to be waving, but yet devoid of all joy in doing it.
And those train stations in part 2? Undoubtedly filled with people only for the purpose of the reporters being able to see it.
It's disturbing to think that North Korea [B]is[/B] what everybody's idea of a dystopian nightmare is.
I seriously doubt a poem is stronger then a fucking nuclear bomb.
[QUOTE=KaIibos;36578497]there must be EXTREME culture shock when you defect from NK. I can't even imagine. going from starvation, secret police, and a completely desolate country to even the simplest things that we take for granted like food and freedom. Unreal.[/QUOTE]
I'd actually like to read about this. Anybody know of any autobiographies or books on this?
He may as well be the protagonist of 1984.
[QUOTE=Chernarus;36586469]I seriously doubt a poem is stronger then a fucking nuclear bomb.[/QUOTE]
Well if you consider the NK bombs...
[QUOTE=rinoaff33;36586915]He may as well be the protagonist of 1984.[/QUOTE]
[sp]Well, he had a happy ending[/sp]
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.