[Star-Lit Promenade] Poet Cheon Sang-byeong | 시인 천상병 (ENG SUB)

Cheon Sang-byeong (1930 – 1993) was a South Korean poet. Cheon Sang-byeong was born in Japan on January 29, 1930. He immigrated to Masan, Korea in 1945, after Korea was liberated from Japan. It was then that the 15-year-old Cheon began writing poems in the language of his ancestry. In July 1949, he published his first poem, Gongsang (공상 Daydreams) in Juksun magazine, followed by Gangmul (강물 River Waters) in Munye magazine upon the recommendation of the poet Yu Chi-hwan. When the Korean War broke out in 1950, he served as an interpreter to the US troops for six months. He entered Seoul National University in 1951, during which time he published a literary magazine called Sinjakpum with friends such as Song Yeong-taek. Cheon's literary debut was completed in 1952 when his poem Galmaegi (갈매기 Seagull) was published in Munye magazine. The following year, Cheon published a critical essay, Sasirui hangye: heoyunseongnon (사실의 한계: 허윤석론 The Limits of Reality: On Heo Yun-seok), in the same magazine, followed by others, including Hangugui hyeonyeokdaega (한국의 현역대가 Modern Masters of Korea) in Hyundae Munhak in 1955. In 1967 Cheon was implicated in the East Berlin Spy Incident and jailed for six months, during which he was brutally tortured. Cheon was scarred from this experience for the rest of his life, unable to father children and dependent on alcohol. Found unconscious on the street, Cheon was institutionalized and his friends, believing him to be dead, published a posthumous book of his poetry. Cheon, however, recovered to enjoy a prolific career.





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