Kim Dong-yeon Visits Poet Shin Gyeong-rim's Grave: "Senior, I Will Create a World Where People Live"

Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Dong-yeon visited the grave of poet Shin Kyung-rim, who passed away in May this year, on the 27th and posted a message and photos on his SNS.

Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Dong-yeon visited the grave of the late poet Shin Kyung-rim, who passed away last May, to pay his respects with flowers.

On the 27th, Governor Kim posted on his social media service (SNS), "On my way to sign a business agreement with the ‘Morning Letter Cultural Foundation,’ I visited the grave of poet Shin Kyung-rim nearby," adding, "The poet’s grave, who passed away two months ago, is located near his birthplace in Noeun-myeon, Chungju."

He continued, "He is one of my favorite poets," and recalled, "I was once a literary boy myself. During my vocational school employment class days, my homeroom teacher once recommended that I not get a job but instead attend a university’s Korean literature department on a full scholarship. However, thinking of my mother who earned a living by gathering wild greens and selling them at the market stall, it was a path I could not choose."

He added, "Perhaps that is why I still have lingering regrets about writing," and said, "I am grateful that about 30 members of the Gyeonggi Writers’ Association joined me in commemorating the late writer Shin. In front of the grave, I recited one of Shin’s poems that I like as a tribute."

Governor Kim introduced the poem he dedicated to the poet who cherished him as a hometown junior from Eumseong, saying, "The poem is ‘Pajang’ (Closing Time), which depicts the end of a rural market."

"Even the clumsy fellows are joyful just seeing each other's faces. Standing in front of the barbershop peeling a melon, sitting on the wooden bench drinking Makgeolli, all have faces like friends."

Governor Kim pledged, "I want to create a marketplace-like world where people live together harmoniously like friends, a world where people live."

Poet Shin Kyung-rim was born in 1936 in Chungju, Chungcheongbuk-do (then Jungwon-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do). After graduating from Chungju High School and the Department of English Literature at Dongguk University College of Liberal Arts, he debuted in 1956 with poems including Reed, Daylight Moon, and Stone Statue published in the magazine ‘Literature and Arts.’

At one point, he was included in the surveillance targets of the Republic of Korea Army Security Command and was monitored by the Roh Tae-woo administration, which was revealed by Private Yoon Seok-yang’s disclosure. In 2001, he received the Silver Crown Cultural Medal. The late poet battled cancer in his final years and passed away on May 22 of this year.