Jin-Seong, Jang

Jang Jin Seong was a former court poet for North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. After fleeing to South Korea he became a best-selling author and media sensation. A graduate of Kim Il-sung University, he became a favourite of the Pyongyang government and was twice invited to meet leader Kim Jong-il. After realising that he could no longer live under Jong-il’s regime, he fled that life and all its relative comforts to cross the Tumen River into China, eventually settling in South Korea. There he has just published a volume of poetry, For 100 Won, My Daughter I Sell. Jang Jin-sung uses a pseudonym to avoid endangering relatives left behind in isolated and bankrupt North Korea.