Kim Chi-Ha
Encyclopedia
Kim Ji-ha is a Korean poet
and playwright. He was a dissident under the Park regime. After accusing the regime of extracting false confessions with the use of torture, he was tried and sentenced to death, which was commuted to a life sentence and eventual release following a public outcry. When he further accused the government of using torture to get confessions in the 1974 People's Revolutionary Party case, he was once again sent to prison and his life sentence renewed. As a Catholic
, he compared the suffering of the Korean people with the greater suffering of Jesus Christ.
In his play The Gold-Crowned Jesus a leper, the most despised outcast class in Korea, encounters the imprisoned Jesus. Jesus tells the leper that he must help liberate Him. By helping the poor, the gold crown of Jesus will be removed and His lips freed to speak.
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and playwright. He was a dissident under the Park regime. After accusing the regime of extracting false confessions with the use of torture, he was tried and sentenced to death, which was commuted to a life sentence and eventual release following a public outcry. When he further accused the government of using torture to get confessions in the 1974 People's Revolutionary Party case, he was once again sent to prison and his life sentence renewed. As a Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
, he compared the suffering of the Korean people with the greater suffering of Jesus Christ.
In his play The Gold-Crowned Jesus a leper, the most despised outcast class in Korea, encounters the imprisoned Jesus. Jesus tells the leper that he must help liberate Him. By helping the poor, the gold crown of Jesus will be removed and His lips freed to speak.
Works
- Heart's Agony: Selected Poems of Chiha Kim (1998)
- Cry of the People and Other Poems (1974)
- The Middle Hour: Selected Poems (1972)
- The Gold-Crowned Jesus and Other Writings (1978)
External links
- Kim's Amazon Author Page
- 김지하-색즉시공! 현실로 상상하기-문학강의 (Youtube, in Korean)