Late Writer Song Gisuk, Author of 'Nokdu Janggun,' Awarded the Order of Cultural Merit, Geumgwan Medal

Government Awards Highest Grade Cultural Medal Posthumously

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The late writer Song Gi-suk, author of novels such as ‘Nokdu Janggun’ and ‘Amtaedo,’ was awarded the Geumgwan Order of Cultural Merit. On the 14th, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced that the honor was posthumously bestowed on the deceased, who passed away on December 5 last year. It is the highest grade of cultural medal. He was recognized for his clear contributions to the development of culture and arts, enhancing national culture, and contributing to national development.

Born in 1935 in Jangheung, Jeollanam-do, he graduated from the Department of Korean Language and Literature and graduate school at Chonnam National University. He debuted as a novelist in 1962 with the modern literary work ‘Isangseoseol.’ He was regarded as an intellectual who dedicated his life to democratization. While serving as a professor at the College of Liberal Arts at Chonnam National University, he experienced two arrests and dismissals. In 1978, he was arrested under Emergency Measure No. 9 after publishing ‘Our Educational Guidelines’ with ten fellow professors, criticizing the Yushin regime’s National Education Charter.

This incident was evaluated as legitimizing the student movement by involving intellectuals, namely professors, in the anti-Yushin and anti-dictatorship struggles led mainly by students at the time. It also led to the growth of the student movement forces in the Gwangju region. In 2013, after 35 years, he was acquitted in a retrial by the court. The approximately 70 million won he received as criminal compensation was donated to the Chonnam National University Development Fund.

During the 1980 Gwangju Democratization Movement, he was active in the Student Recovery Committee and was imprisoned for 10 months on charges of rebellion. He was released the following year and returned as a professor in the Department of Korean Literature at Chonnam National University. He served as director of the Korean Modern History Source Research Institute, co-chairman of the National Professors’ Council for Democratization, president of the Association of Writers for National Literature, director of the 5·18 Research Institute at Chonnam National University, and chairman of the Cultural Center City Creation Committee.

He also left a significant mark on Korean literature through consistent creative work. His representative work, ‘Nokdu Janggun,’ is an epic novel about the Donghak Peasant Movement. In addition, he received awards such as the Modern Literature Award, Manhae Literature Award, and Kumho Art Award through short stories like ‘Baegui Minjok’ (The White-Clad People), ‘Dokkaebi Janchi’ (Goblin Festival), ‘Jaesuneun Geumuihwanhyang’ (Unlucky Triumphant Return), novels like ‘Eunnaegol Gihaeng’ (Journey to Eunnaegol), ‘Owolui Miso’ (Smile of May), and essay collections such as ‘When Nokdu Flowers Fall’ and ‘The Village, That Beautiful Republic.’

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