In the 1970s, in South Korea under the military government, the poet Kim Chi-ha (Kim Chi-ha), who was a symbol of the democratization movement, died after being imprisoned for publishing a work that criticized the powerful.
He was 81 years old.
Born in Mokpo (Kiura) in the south of South Korea in 1941, Kim Ji-ha criticized conglomerates and parliamentarians under the then-Park Chung-hee administration in the 1970s after graduating from Seoul National University. He was imprisoned for publishing the poem "Five Thieves".
In South Korea, it is a symbol of the democratization movement, and his work has been translated into Japanese and has become widely known, and writer Kenzaburo Oe and others have carried out a support movement in search of Kim's release.
After being released in 1980, he expanded the scope of his activities by presenting essays on ecosystems and environmental issues, and in 1998 he visited Japan for the first time to give lectures.
According to South Korean news agency Yonhap News Agency, Kim has been fighting illness for the past year or so and died at his home on the 8th.
He was 81 years old.