A life lived for two literary giants

Kim Young-joo, the only daughter of author Pak Kyong-ni (1926-2008) and the wife of poet and democracy fighter Kim Chi-ha, receives a phone call with news that her husband is to be released shortly from prison, in this February 1975 file photo. She died of breast cancer on Monday. / Korea Times file

Toji Cultural Foundation Chairwoman Kim Young-joo dies

By Kang Hyun-kyung

Kim Young-joo, the Toji Cultural Foundation chairwoman, the daughter of the period novel author Pak Kyong-ni (1926-2008) and the wife of poet and democracy fighter Kim Chi-ha, died of breast cancer on Monday. She was 73.

The Toji foundation didn't release a statement about her death.

A staff member of the foundation confirmed her death, saying Kim had been hospitalized for a month or so before she passed away. "Chairwoman Kim underwent chemotherapy after she was diagnosed with breast cancer several years ago. Her health became worse in the last few months and she fought for her life," she told The Korea Times over the phone on Tuesday.

In 2008, Kim took the helm of the Toji foundation aiming to commemorate the literary legacy of her late mother who died from lung cancer. Pak was a renowned novelist best known for her grandiose period novel, "Toji" or "The Land" which described the rise and fall of the wealthy Choi family in the southwestern province of Jeolla at the turn of the 20th century.

Kim was Pak's literary partner, serving as a proofreader and critic of her mother since middle school. Once Pak finished her drafts, she would show them to her daughter and ask her to check if they were okay before she sent them to the publishers.

Kim thoroughly checked every word and sentence, and made suggestions about the words, flow and even structure of her drafts. Pak listened to her daughter and followed her advice.

To commemorate her mother's legacy and nurture Korean literature, Kim and the Toji foundation, which is based in the eastern city of Wonju, launched the Pak Kyong-ni Prize in 2011 and have since awarded it to talented Korean and international novelists, including Lyudmila Ulitskaya of Russia and Ismail Kadare of Albania. The foundation also has provided a residence program for writers to help them focus on writing without distraction.

The late novelist Pak Kyong-ni (1926-2008) / Korea Times file

All her life, Kim lived in the shadow of her mother and later her husband.

Born in 1946 as Pak's only daughter, Kim studied sociology at Yonsei University in Seoul and went on to graduate school to study Buddhist paintings. She published several books, including "A Study of Buddhist Paintings of Joseon Dynasty."

Although talented as a researcher and scholar, she was unable to pursue her own career because her life came to be entwined with Korea's turbulent modern history after she married Kim.

She fell in love with Kim, then a student activist chased by the nation's spy agency. She met him when he sought a hideout at her mother's home. He was then a renowned poet and dissident. He held pro-democracy fighters spellbound with his appealing poems.

Among college students and pro-democracy fighters of the 1970s and 80s, Kim was a household name.

The famous two lines of his "Burning Thirst" ― In Burning thirst Democracy forever ― became a motto and slogan of student activism for the two decades. Students would chant it whenever they took to the street. In the 1970s, he lived under surveillance.
Pak's daughter came to live under the surveillance, too, after marrying him.

In an interview with The Korea Times in 2015, Chairwoman Kim said her mother initially didn't approve their marriage.

Back then, Kim said she didn't understand why her mother gave her the cold shoulder. After she became a parent of two sons, she began to understand her mother.

Kim said she realized that it would have been very difficult for her mother to see her only daughter going through ordeals because of her husband.

Despite her disapproval, the two Kims married in 1973. Shortly after their marriage, her husband was sent to prison on false accusations of conspiring with pro-North Korean elements to overthrow the Park Chung-hee government. She would take her son, Wonbo, to prison to see her husband.

Her husband was released in 1975 but was arrested again and sent to jail for five years. He was released in 1980, months after President Park Chung-hee was assassinated in October 1979.

A historical twist came in 2012 when the Kim couple had reconciliation with their oppressor, through Park's daughter.

The two Kims endorsed Park Geun-hye, Park Chung-hee's first daughter, as the next president. Back then, Park was the standard bearer of the conservative ruling party and ran against Moon Jae-in. Park won the presidential election but her presidency was cut short by impeachment.

Kim is survived by her husband and two sons.

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