Jang Jin-sung

Jang Jin-sung (born 1971 in Sariwŏn , North Korea ) is a Korean writer.

Life

Jang Jin-sung studied at a university in Pyongyang and won a national poetry competition. He was named a Poet Laureate and was allowed to write poetry about the national leader Kim Jong-il . He lived a privileged life in North Korea.

Since Jang banned literature had, he had to flee in 2004 along with a friend from the country and came across the river Tumen in the Chinese People's Republic . In Beijing he contacted the South Korean embassy, ​​which smuggled him to South Korea . He was first investigated by the South Korean secret service for eight months. Jang has since been under police protection to prevent attacks by partisans of the North Korean regime.

Jang runs a news office in South Korea. In 2014/15 he worked for one year at the University of Leiden . His report on his work in North Korea was also translated into English.

Jang is married to a South Korean woman and they have one child.

Fonts (selection)

• Dear Leader: Poet, Spy, Escapee. A Look Inside North Korea . Translated into English by Shirley Lee. New York: 37 Ink / Atria, 2014

literature

• Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore: The regime will not last for ever , in: Financial Times , February 20, 2016, p. 16

Web links

• Literature by and about Chang, Chin-sŏng in the WorldCat bibliographic database

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Korean. Jang is the family name here, Jin-sung is the first name.