ADRN

Lecture 3

East Asia Institute (EAI) and Korea Foundation co-hosted on the KF-EAI Korea Friendship event, a series of educational and networking program, for international students residing in South Korea. There are 7 consecutive lectures on Korea and 1 field trip on Korean history.

The third lecture on ‘Korean Literature and North Korean Human Rights in 2000s’ was held at the seminar room of the Global Center of the Korea Foundation. Jang Kang-Myung, a novelist, pointed out that the novel writing scene, which does not write about North Korean issues, has changed. He was also calling for more attention on the tyranny and human rights abuses of North Korea.

Currently, it is estimated that there are more than 100,000 political prisoners who are detained in North Korea’s concentration camps. These political prisoners are at risk of dying because of the insufficient access to proper nutrition and hygiene.

Korean society treats North Koreans like “invisible people”. Therefore, the Korean literature society has a moral obligation and responsibility to write about North Korea. By pointing that North Korea's democratic transition would eventually lead to the unification of Korea, the lecturer vowed to fulfill his duty as a writer.