Paek Sŏk
Paek Ki-haeng, known by his art name Paek Sŏk was a North Korean poet.
He was born in Chŏngju in North Pyongan Province, and started his journalist career at The Chosun Ilbo in 1934. He published his first poem "Chŏngju Fortress" on 31 August 1935 issue of Chosun Ilbo. On 20 January next year, he published a collection of the poems he had written entitled Deer. Even though Deer contained 33 poems, many of which were new, seven of them were already published in magazines or newspapers in slightly different forms. Until 1948, he published about 60 more pieces, but is not believed to have produced another poetry book.
In South Korea, the publication of his works was strictly prohibited for a while because he was labelled as a North Korean poet and a communist. However, since 1987 when a collection of his works were first introduced after the Korean War, he has been widely re-evaluated by scholars and critics. He is now regarded as having opened a new face of Korean socialist modernism with a group of literary writers. In 2007, he was listed by the Korean Poets' Association among the ten most important modern Korean poets.
He was born in Chŏngju in North Pyongan Province, and started his journalist career at The Chosun Ilbo in 1934. He published his first poem "Chŏngju Fortress" on 31 August 1935 issue of Chosun Ilbo. On 20 January next year, he published a collection of the poems he had written entitled Deer. Even though Deer contained 33 poems, many of which were new, seven of them were already published in magazines or newspapers in slightly different forms. Until 1948, he published about 60 more pieces, but is not believed to have produced another poetry book.
In South Korea, the publication of his works was strictly prohibited for a while because he was labelled as a North Korean poet and a communist. However, since 1987 when a collection of his works were first introduced after the Korean War, he has been widely re-evaluated by scholars and critics. He is now regarded as having opened a new face of Korean socialist modernism with a group of literary writers. In 2007, he was listed by the Korean Poets' Association among the ten most important modern Korean poets.
