Cho Ki-chon

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In this Korean name, the family name is Cho.

Cho Ki-chon
Cult of personality of Kim Il Sung
Literary movementSocialist realism
Notable worksMt. Paeketu,
"Whistle"
Notable awards
  • Festival Prize
  • Order of the National Flag, 2nd class (1951)
  • National Prize, 1st class for Mt. Paektu (1948) and Korea is Fighting (1952)
SpouseKim Hae-sŏn (m. late 1930s)
ChildrenYurii Cho
Korean name
Chosŏn'gŭl
조기천[1]
Hancha
趙基天[2]
Revised RomanizationJo Gi-cheon[3]
McCune–ReischauerCho Ki-ch'ŏn[4]
 Literature portal

Cho Ki-chon (

Pushkin of Korea".[7]

Cho was dispatched by the Soviet authorities to liberated Korea when the Red Army entered in 1945. By that time, he had substantial experience with Soviet literature and literature administration. The Soviets hoped that Cho would shape the cultural institutions of the new state based on the Soviet model. For the Soviets, the move was successful, and Cho did not only that but also significantly developed socialist realism as it would become the driving force of North Korean literature and arts.[8]

Cho offered some of the earliest contributions to

Kim Il Sung's cult of personality.[9] His most famous work is Mt. Paektu (1947), a lyrical epic praising Kim Il Sung's guerrilla activities and promoting him as a suitable leader for the new North Korean state. Other notable works by Cho include "Whistle" [ko
], a seemingly non-political love poem which was later adapted as a popular song that is known in both North and South Korea.

During the Korean War, Cho wrote wartime propaganda poems. He died during the war in an American bombing raid. He and his works are still renowned in North Korean society.

Life and career

Cho Ki-chon was born to poor Korean peasants in the village of

Korean independence activists.[3] He particularly drew literary inspiration from Cho Myong-hui [ko], a fellow Korean writer living in the Soviet Union who – in believing in national emancipation by upholding socialist principles – had already written about anti-Japanese guerrillas.[13][3] Thus he acquired a nationalistic and class conscious worldview in his literature.[2]

Before emigrating from the Soviet Union

Mosaic of Kim Il Sung waving at a crowd
It is possible that Cho translated Kim Il Sung's victory speech of 1945 into Korean. Cho moved to North Korea that year.

Cho studied at the Korean Teachers College in Voroshilov-Ussuriysk between 1928 and 1931. During that time, he was also a member of the communist youth league of the Soviet Union, Komsomol.[14]

Cho was initially supposed to enroll at the

Gorky Omsk State Pedagogical University.[14] Although he was not fluent in Russian upon entering the university, he graduated with excellent marks,[15] and his time spent there amplified his Russian and Soviet sides.[17]

He returned to the Far East and took up teaching responsibilities at the

Kzyl-Orda, Kazakh SSR in 1937. The following year Cho went to Moscow and tried to enroll at the Moscow Literature University, only to find himself arrested on the spot for breaking the law confining Koreans to[Central Asia. He then returned to the Institute in Kzyl-Orda and worked there until 1941.[18] In the late 1930s, Cho married Kim Hae-sŏn. The two had a son, Yurii Cho, born in 1939.[19]

Between 1942 and 1943, Cho served in the

Pacific Navy in Khabarovsk between 1943 and 1945 and in the First Far Eastern Front from October 1945. A part of his job was to write propaganda leaflets spread by the Soviet Red Army in Korea. Biographer Tatiana Gabroussenko thinks it is probable that he also translated the first speech given by Kim Il Sung after the liberation,[20] on 14 October 1945, called "Every Effort for the Building of a New Democratic Korea",[21] into Korean. The original speech was written by Soviet officers.[20] Cho entered North Korea with the Red Army that year.[19]

Creating model literature in North Korea

Immediately after the liberation of Korea, Soviet authorities sent Cho, who was fluent in both Korean and Russian,[22] to North Korea in order to shape the country's literary institutions on the Soviet model. Cho diligently followed the Workers' Party's instructions to "immerse [oneself] in the masses" and would visit factories, villages and farms and write poems based on these experiences. His experiences in the Soviet Union helped him in producing explicitly political works. Many other authors were not equally adept to write about political subjects and were reluctant to visit places of work.[23]

His role in shaping North Korean literature was to be pivotal.

Jambyl Jabayev.[19]

The literary circles of the time were based on divisions in North Korean politics as a whole. Cho associated himself with the other ethnic Koreans who had come from the Soviet Union. This literary group was close to the political

Soviet Koreans faction.[19]

During the Korean War, Cho worked for Rodong Sinmun and also wrote propaganda poems.[26] Before the war, he had been a member of the Standing Committee of the North Korean Literary and Art Federation.[27] In 1951, he was selected the vice-chairman of the unified Korean Federation of Literature and Arts (MR: Chosŏn munhakyesul ch'ongdongmaeng, KFLA) which was chaired by Han Sorya. He was a member of its subdivision called the Literature Organization (MR: Munhak tongmaeng).[28]

Works

In the Soviet Union

While still at the Pedagogical Institute, Cho released a novel describing the

Sŏnbong, in Russia. Between 1930 and 1933 he wrote poems such as "The Morning of the Construction", "To the Advanced Workers", "The Military Field Study" and "Paris Commune".[14] While still in the Soviet Union, he also wrote poems "To Rangers" and "Outdoor Practice".[3]

In North Korea

After moving to North Korea, Cho released "New Year".

Kyonggi to Ryongnam.[36]

While all of the poems are thoroughly ideological,[35] some South Korean scholars such as Yi Chang-ju of the North Research Institution[37] have sought to emphasize Cho's lyrical side in order to "domesticate" him to serve rapprochement between the two countries' cultural orientations.[34] Some of Cho's poems have been adapted into popular music lyrics that enjoy popularity in the South as well as the North. "Whistle" [ko] (Hŭip'aram), "Willow" (Suyang pŏtŭl) and "Swing" are love songs that were inspired by a more relaxed cultural atmosphere following the translation of Russian-language poetry into Korean. These influences include Mikhail Isakovsky's "Katyusha",[34] to which "Whistle" in particular bears likeness.[38] "Whistle", adapted as a popular song in 1990, is often seen in the South as a non-political song.[39] However, according to Gabroussenko, South Korean observers often fail to notice the political and cultural elements borrowed from Isakovsky and Soviet lyrical poetry.[40] In "Whistle", for instance, the couple embodies exemplary socialist traits:[38]

Today you again smiled purely,
And said that you have overfilled the production plan threefold,
But I do not envy your achievement,
I can do even better,
But I like your smile.
Why is it so pure?

— "Whistle" [ko][41]

Mt. Paektu

A crowd looking at a large statue depicting young Kim Il Sung in military attire
Cho's epic Mt. Paektu promotes Kim Il Sung as a heroic guerrilla well-suited to lead the country.

Cho's long

North Korean propaganda to this day.[43]

The poem has its origins in Cho's fascination with the anti-Japanese guerrillas, including

Rim Chun-chu and Choe Hyon, with whom he had met.[44][24] The creation of the epic was politically motivated, too, as the Soviets, who had dispatched Cho to North Korea, wanted to strengthen Kim Il Sung's grip on power. Publications presenting him as a legendary anti-Japanese hero were needed, and so Mt. Paektu was born.[29] The work is dedicated "to the glorious Soviet Army that liberated Korea",[45] and is written with the Soviets and not the Koreans in mind.[46]

Due to vigorous promotion of a "mass culture" in both the output and readership of literature, copies of Mt. Paektu were printed by the hundreds of thousands, more than any work in the history of Korean literature before that.[47] Generally speaking, the poem was well received. The public was interested, and young readers acclaimed it.[46] It was liked in the KFLA as it employed revolutionary romanticism in its portrayal of Kim.[42] Kim personally liked the poem, too, and began visiting Cho's home.[48] In his memoirs With the Century, Kim writes that he was the first person to listen to Cho recite the poem and liked its "jewel-like sentences". More than esthetic, Kim says he was attracted to the content and they both "shed tears" when Cho chanted a passage about fallen comrades.[49]

In keeping with its nature as propaganda, the content of Mt. Paektu exaggerates Kim Il Sung's activities during the liberation struggle.

B. R. Myers, the work exemplifies particular traits of an early cult of personality built upon Soviet Marxism–Leninism and bloc conformity, which were soon replaced by Korean ethnic nationalism of writers like Han Sorya.[51] While Cho's Kim Il Sung is a brilliant strategist who has masculine qualities like strength and intellect, in Han's works he embodies traditional Korean virtues of innocence and naivety having "mastered Marxism–Leninism with his heart, not his brain". The ethnically inspired style of Han would establish itself as the standard of propaganda over Cho's.[52] Benoit Berthelier, however, sees continuity in Cho's work and contemporary propaganda. According to him, Cho can be credited with having created a genre of "revolutionary romanticism", which systematized the use of legends and supernatural imagery in Kim and his successors' cult of personality.[43]

Long epic poetry was not a popular genre in North Korea before Mt. Paektu, but it was in the Soviet Union where Cho had immigrated from.[29] Poema and Mayakovsky's prosody and poetry were also among Cho's influences that can be seen in Mt. Paektu.[30] These Russian stylistic influences gave Mt. Paektu its peculiar characteristics that prompted mixed reactions from the North Korean public. For instance, some in the literature circles were unfamiliar with the concept of a lyrical epic and thought of it as an improbable amalgam of genres,[46] criticizing the work for being indistinguishable from ordinary prose.[53] According to North Korean studies scholar Alzo David-West, the relatively favorable reaction to Mt. Paektu compared to some other literature testifies to North Korean readership being capable at being both a receptive and a dismissive audience.[54]

South Korean scholars have presented two competing views about Mt. Paektu: academics of the older generation typically dismiss Mt. Paektu as "personality cult literature". Younger generation minjung and leftist scholars, however, see guerrillas other than Kim Il Sung – such as Ch'ŏl-ho, Kkot-pun, and Sŏk-jun – and by extension, the people, as the "hero" of the story. For some of them, like Sin Tong-ho, excluding the role of others than Kim Il Sung is an outright obstruction for creating a national unity in literature.[45]

The 1947 text has been revised three times because of changes within the political system of North Korea to produce "heavily revised chuch'e [

Nikolay Shchors and Sergey Lazo,[55]
while a newer revision omits them and concentrates on indigenous assets:

The work was adapted on stage by Han T'ae-ch'ŏn.[48] It has been translated into English, Arabic, French, German, Russian, Spanish,[59] Czech,[60] Polish,[61] Chinese,[62] Japanese,[63] and Mongolian. Of these, the Mongolian one was deemed "distorted" by North Koreans and sparked a diplomatic crisis in 1976, resulting in expulsion of the Mongolian ambassador to the country.[64]

Death and legacy

Cho died on 31 July 1951 in his office in Pyongyang during an American bombing raid in the war.[65]

Mt. Paektu received the National Prize (국가훈장), first class, in 1948.[16] Cho's works were awarded the Festival Prize (북조선예술축전상), the country's highest literary honor, modeled after the Stalin Prize.[25] He also was awarded the Order of the National Flag, second class, for his work during the war in 1951,[66] as well as a posthumous National Prize, first class, in 1952 for his cycle of poems Korea is Fighting[16] (MR: Chosŏnŏn Ssaunda, 1951).[32]

His resting place is at the Patriotic Martyrs' Cemetery, in Pyongyang.[67] Today, Cho is regarded as the founding father of North Korean socialist realist poetry,[8] or indeed poetry in general,[6] or even North Korean literature as a whole.[68] In the mid-1950s many Soviet Koreans, including Cho's close friends, were discredited in purges. According to Gabroussenko, Cho's untimely death in 1951 may have spared him his reputation from that loss of official recognition. With the exception of a period in the 1970s when Cho's name was barely mentioned in official publications, his legacy has benefited from continued popularity in North Korea.[9]

See also

Notes and references

Notes

  1. ^ According to biographer Tatiana Gabroussenko, Cho's place of birth in Russia is verified by both Soviet records as well as his friends and relatives. Both North Korean and some South Korean sources incorrectly state that he was born in Wonsan-ri, Hoeryong County, North Hamgyong Province in Korea.[11][12]
  2. ^ Korean: 백두산; Hancha: 白頭山; RR: Baekdusan; MR: Paektusan[1][29][24]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Go Hyeon-cheol (2005). 북한 정치사와의 상관성으로 살펴본 조기천의 1955년 판 『백두산』 [A Study on the Interrelation between Jo Gi-Chun's Baekdusan 1955 Text and the Political History of North Korea]. DBpia (in Korean): 338–342. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  2. ^ a b c Luo Jin Hyun (2010). 趙基天論 – 생애와 문학 활동에 대한 재검토 [Discourse on Cho Ki Cheon — Review on His Life and Literary Activity]. DBpia (in Korean). 58 (2): 113. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  3. ^
    DBpia
     (in Korean). Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  4. ^ Gabroussenko 2005, p. 55.
  5. ^ 기획 기사 [9.9절 방북취재-6]<백두산은 역시 혁명의 성산> (in Korean). Korean American National Coordinating Council. 23 September 2008. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  6. ^ a b c Gabroussenko 2005, p. 56.
  7. S2CID 162500227
    .
  8. ^ a b Gabroussenko 2005, p. 85.
  9. ^ a b Gabroussenko 2005, p. 86.
  10. ^ Gabroussenko 2005, p. 58.
  11. ^ Gabroussenko 2005, pp. 58–59.
  12. ^
    OCLC 24937247. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 17 August 2016.
  13. ^ Gabroussenko 2005, p. 89n41.
  14. ^ a b c d Gabroussenko 2005, p. 61.
  15. ^ a b Gabroussenko 2005, p. 89 n38.
  16. ^ a b c d e "Cho Ki-chon". The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (3rd ed.). The Gale Group, Inc. 1970–1979. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  17. ^ Gabroussenko 2005, pp. 61–62.
  18. ^ Gabroussenko 2005, p. 63.
  19. ^ a b c d e Gabroussenko 2005, p. 65.
  20. ^ a b Gabroussenko 2005, p. 64.
  21. ISBN 978-0-8248-0740-5
    . Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  22. ^ a b c Kim Nak-hyeon (2011). 재소(在蘇) 고려문인들의 북한문학 형성기의 활동과 역할 – 조기천을 중심으로 [The activity and roles of Koryo literary men in USSR of forming North Korean literature — Focusing on Jo Ki Cheon]. DBpia (in Korean): 182. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  23. ^ a b c d e Gabroussenko 2005, p. 77.
  24. ^ a b c d e Gabroussenko 2005, p. 69.
  25. ^ a b Gabroussenko 2005, p. 68.
  26. ^ Gabroussenko 2005, pp. 82–83.
  27. ^ Kim 2014, p. 120.
  28. ^ Wit 2015, p. 43.
  29. ^
    DBpia
    (in Korean). Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  30. ^
    DBpia
    (in Korean). Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  31. OCLC 271843341
    .
  32. ^ a b Gabroussenko 2005, p. 82.
  33. ^ a b "Famous Korean poet". KCNA. 5 July 2001. Archived from the original on 12 October 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  34. ^ a b c Gabroussenko 2005, p. 79.
  35. ^ a b Gabroussenko 2005, p. 78.
  36. ^ "Orchestral Music "Mungyong Pass"". KCNA. 1 July 2013. Archived from the original on 12 October 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  37. ^ Gabroussenko 2005, p. 57.
  38. ^ a b Gabroussenko 2005, p. 80.
  39. ^ Korean Unification Bulletin. Ministry of Unification of the Republic of Korea. 2001. p. 46. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  40. ^ Gabroussenko 2005, pp. 80–81.
  41. ^ Cho Ki-chon (153). "Hŭip'aram" [Whistle]. Cho Ki-chŏn sŏnjip [Anthology of Cho Ki-chon]. Vol. 2. p. 69. Translation in Gabroussenko 2005, p. 80
  42. ^ a b Kim 2014, p. 119.
  43. ^ a b Berthelier, Benoit (17 May 2013). "Symbolic Truth: Epic, Legends, and the Making of the Baekdusan Generals". Sino-NK. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  44. OCLC 28377167
    . Retrieved 16 October 2014.
  45. ^ a b c Gabroussenko 2005, p. 70.
  46. ^ a b c Gabroussenko 2005, p. 73.
  47. ^ Berthelier, Benoit (2014). "Mass culture, class identity and the North Korean movement for the popularization of arts and letters (1945–1955)" (PDF). AKS World Congress of Korean Studies 2014. p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 May 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  48. ^ a b c Gabroussenko 2005, p. 76.
  49. OCLC 28377167
    . Retrieved 16 October 2014.
  50. ^
    DBpia
    (in Korean). Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  51. ISBN 978-1-5087-9993-1
    .
  52. ISBN 978-1-935554-97-4
    .
  53. ^ Gabroussenko 2005, p. 75.
  54. S2CID 145740206
    .
  55. ^ Gabroussenko 2005, p. 71, 91 n96.
  56. ^ Cho Ki-chon (1952). "Paektusan" [Mt. Paektu]. Cho Ki-chŏn sŏnjip [Anthology of Cho Ki-chon]. Vol. 1. p. 6. Translation in Gabroussenko 2005, p. 71
  57. OCLC 24937247. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 17 August 2016.
  58. ^ Cho Ki-chon (1947). "제4장" . ko:백두산  [Mt. Paektu/Chapter 4] (in Korean) – via Wikisource.
  59. ^ Korea Publications Exchange Association catalogue (PDF). Korea Publications Exchange Association. 2011. p. [106]. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2014.
  60. OCLC 85438149
    – via worldcat.org.
  61. OCLC 749252331
    – via worldcat.org.
  62. ^ British Broadcasting Corporation. Monitoring Service (1978). Summary of World Broadcasts: Far East. Monitoring Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  63. OCLC 766245193
    – via worldcat.org.
  64. ISBN 978-0-230-10199-9
    .
  65. ^ Gabroussenko 2005, pp. 56, 85.
  66. ^ Wit 2015, p. 44.
  67. ^ "Prometheus.co.kr" 북한의 열사릉, 그 상징과 폭력: 혁명열사릉과 애국열사릉. Prometheus (in Korean). 13 August 2013. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  68. ISBN 978-0-8248-3396-1
    .

Works cited

Further reading

External links

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Cho Ki-chon
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