[KF-EAI Korea Friendship] Novelist Jang Kang-myung on ‘2000s Korean Literature and North Korean Human Rights Issues’

The East Asia Institute (EAI), in collaboration with the Korea Foundation (KF), is conducting the KF-EAI Korea Friendship program, an educational and networking initiative for international students residing in Korea.

Novelist Jang Kang-myung pointed out that the Korean literary world, which does not address the situation in North Korea or the division of the peninsula, needs to change and urge public attention, as well as denounce dictatorship and human rights abuses. He stated that currently, over an estimated 100,000 political prisoners in North Korea are confined in camps the size of cities, dying due to inadequate nutrition and sanitation. During the past Arduous March famine, people starved to death in village-sized groups, yet South Korea is insufficient in addressing these issues both politically and in terms of social awareness. He argued that South Korean society treats North Korean residents like 'invisible people,' and that Korean literature also bears responsibility and must address this issue from a standpoint of moral obligation.