North Korea Writer Jailed for Sharing a Poem with a Friend

North Korean poet Do Myourng-hak was imprisoned for writing two satiric poems.

‘Pass the one-eyed’ told the real story of a one-eyed man being conscripted into the army – he was told he could shoot with the remaining eye.

The poem was private, never published, but he shared them with a friend who turned out to be spy…..

Vitri Angreni caught up with the poet during a recent visit to Jakarta and asked him how he felt about that friend.

“The guy who reported on me was also in trouble with authorities. So it was a desperate decision that he made to report another to save his own life. At first I thought about killing him to get revenge but when I defected to South Korea and started being able to look back at that time I understood what he did and understood his situation at that time.”

Q. So what happened to you during your time in jail?

“I was held in a detention center by the intelligence agency, so it was not a real prison.  At first I thought I wouldn’t be there long but my detention kept getting extended and extended. So for the first three years I was interrogated.  I was not serious physically abused like many other people. Yes I was beaten but not seriously. I could endure it but the hardest thing was the food and sleep deprivation. They made me go for days with out food or sleep and the worst thing was they lied to me about my family.  So it was brutal mental abuse.”

Q. After you were released did you start writing poems again straight away?

“No I couldn’t write again after being release. The authorities through my neighbors monitored me at all times. Also my health was poor. I needed to recover first. Once I was well again I decided I had to escape and left the country.”

Q. So now you are living in Seoul and have started writing again…. What kind of things do you explore in your writing?

“Lots of different things, mostly I write about what life is like in North Korea and also about the reunification of Korea. Usually I write poems but I also write novels and sometimes essays and the occasional column for a newspaper.”

Q. Do you still have family inside North Korea? Or already be with you in South Korea?

“I left North Korea alone.  But when I could save up some money I was able to bring my family here one by one. So now my whole family is living safely in North Korea.”

Q. Did they ever explain why you were detained?

“I was told by the interrogator that I had committed the crime of criticizing the nation and the people. My work was called anti-propaganda against the government.” 

That was Do Myourng-hak – North korean poet who is now the secretary general of the PEN center for exiled north Korean writers based in the South.