Jang Jin-sung writes about his ex-'Dear Leader'

Poet and writer Jang Jin-sung poses in the office of his Internet news outlet in Dapshipni, eastern Seoul. He is receiving heightened attention for his English memoir of how he fled the North and about the inner workings of North Korea. / Korea Times photo by Kim Ji-soo

NK defector once allowed into inner circle, now sheds light on mad dynasty

Cover of Jang Jin-sung's English memoir "Dear Leader"
(2014)

"Crossing the River with Poetry in My Heart" (2009)

"Kim Jong-il's Last Woman," a volume of epic poetry Jang
Jin-sung wrote in 2009.

"I Sell My Daughter for 100 Won"(2008)

By Kim Ji-soo

Writer Jang Jin-sung's office in Dapshipni, eastern Seoul, a sleepy neighborhood, evokes memories of the old Seoul, the Seoul of the 1970s and 1980s before the arrival of glimmering high-rises. The location of his office is nondescript, without even a plaque showing his office number. Inside the office, two reporters and Jang's security guard sat in one room, while Jang occupied another. His recent best-selling English-Language memoir, "Dear Leader," lay on the coffee table along with his other published books in Korean and Japanese.

Dressed casually in purple shirt and light khaki pants, Jang, 43, came across as your average, good-natured, 40-something Korean man who likes to ask questions and often chuckles. This image contradicted his status as the internationally acclaimed writer of "Dear Leader," which chronicles his literary achievements in both North and South Korea.

A graduate of Kim Il-sung University, Jang was a poet laureate for former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il before he defected to South Korea in 2004 and went on to publish a best-selling volume of poetry, "I Sell My Daughter for 100 Won" in 2008. While "For 100 Won" was well received, it was "Dear Leader" that catapulted him to the limelight. As of late May, it ranked 10th overall in sales in English-speaking countries except North America, and since being released on May 13, has been the No. 1 seller in the Asian politics category onAmazon.com.

How does he feel about being suddenly thrust into the international limelight?

"Koreans would find it sudden, but foreigners who find front page of their newspaper containing articles on human rights in Ghana and Libya won't," said Jang.

He said the South Korean press does not uphold the universal values of freedom, peace and humanity. "They are party papers, leaning toward either the left or right," said Jang. "They deal about political fights."

Then, he smiled sheepishly and apologized for criticizing journalism in front of a journalist who's about to interview him.

He realizes that he has the power to tell the world about the human rights situation in North Korea through literature and make this story resonate with people around the world.

"I realized that the more society is aware of human rights, the more it's accepting of culture," he said, recounting his experience at the 2012 London Poetry Parnassus. At the event, he asked the participants why the human rights situation in North Korea was put on the backburner unlike those in the other countries. Was it because North Korea had no oil?

"The BBC moderator there said the West does not know North Korea, and therefore, I should come forward to tell the world about the country's culture and issues," he said.

That's why he decided to publish a book in English — to garner the attention of the international community that is interested in human rights.

Jang, who, in addition to being a poet laureate in North Korea, was a counterintelligence official for the North's propaganda machine, the United Front Department of the North Korean Workers' Party, seems the right person for such a task.

"There has always been attention on the North Korean human rights situation, but nothing has been done. We need to change the logic toward North Korea. We need to see North Korea as it really is," Jang said.

"People should know that there are two North Koreas, the one that's projected to the outside world and the real one inside. The former is founded on lies, but this is what people refer to when studying North Korea. In this way, academics has become a slave of lies because the human rights situation there is distorted in academics," he said.

For his work in the North, Jang was invited twice to share a meal with Kim Jong-il and received special gifts including a trip to his hometown and other perks reserved for the North's elite. As a counterintelligence official, he had access to South Korean publications.

These privileges, however, opened his eyes. His first meeting in 1999 with Kim Jong-il changed his preconceptions of the deified leader, while his exposure to South Korean publications made him question why the South was thriving when the North was not. Then, when he visited his hometown of Sariwon, south of Pyongyang, in the late 1990s, he saw the suffering of the people, many of whom died from the famine. Although the North Korean government reported that only 220,000 people died from the famine, the actual number is closer to 3 million, according to North Korean watchers. He began writing poems about the famine, including "I Sell My Daughter for 100 Won."

In 2004, when his friend lost a South Korean magazine that he had lent him — a crime that s punishable by death — the two fled to China. While he arrived safely in South Korea after 35 days in the wilderness, his friend was not so lucky and died after being captured. He recounts this harrowing experience in a small Korean book, "Crossing the River with Poetry in My Heart" published in 2009. "Dear Leader" contains portions from that earlier book.

"Oh, that was the collection of writings that I did on the Internet," he said, looking shy about what he wrote on the Internet several years ago.

"Everybody says the North Korean military is strong, but the military only makes the North look strong," said Jang. "The real power is within the Organization and Guidance Department in the North Korean Workers' Party, which controls the regime directly through five types of power, including appointment and censorship, and within the United Front Department, which manipulates the public opinion," Jang said.

He said the thickly veiled Organization and Guidance Department has recently come under the spotlight because its vice director, Hwang Byeong-seo, was appointed as head of General Political Bureau.

"Seoul needs more specific approaches like how to use the North Korean factor to prompt the people to move toward national security and unification," he said. "Also, it needs to realize that the North Korean regime is different from its people and that the North is built on psychological values and thus, is most vulnerable to psychological warfare," he added.

"North Korea is wearing armor on the front but is naked on the back. Why are we looking only at the front?" he said. "During the Kim Il-sung era, North Korea wore armor. During the Kim Jong-il era, North Korea wore armor on the front but was naked on the back. The Kim Jong-un regime is completely naked and only holding up a shield," he said.

What do North Korean watchers think of his views?

"Some agree, while some say defectors are liars," said Jang.

His comments have raised skepticism about his credibility. He said one of the hardest part as the founder and director of New Focus, an online defector news platform, is combating that notion that defectors are liars.

After undergoing interrogation and debriefing upon his arrival in the South, he worked at the state-run Institute for National Security Strategy for seven years before leaving in 2010. He set up News Focus in 2011, with 50 million won of his own money. Having to use his own money meant he reviewed each and every word published on the platform, he said as he chuckled. New Focus has six employees who are also North Korean defectors.

"A few supporters and ads keep it going," said Jang. His contract with Random House in the U.K. entitled him to a good sum, while his contract for "Dear Leader" with North American publsihers entitled him to an even greater amount.

"Ah ... Don't ask about the contract fees. I have to respect the publishers," said Jang as he chuckled.

He is expected to go on a book tour for "Dear Leader" in January and March next year in the United States and in Canada.

He said he does not want to talk about his family in the North.

"I am a guilty person," he said. He said he would not have fled, if not for guilt by association.

He however as a father readily shows a picture of his son in the South.

But by writing so many books, isn't he already revealing too much about himself?

"I don't think of writing as revealing my life. I think of it as revealing the true North Korea," he said.

He is now both a writer and a reporter, but which job comes first?

"Being a writer. But both jobs are the same in that they deal with the truth. The difference is the time. News is by the minute. Literature is consuming," he said.

Doesn't he still fear for his life?

"There are still threats," Jang said, adding that the North considers him a threat because he speaks the truth.

"But I cannot be a coward (now that I am here in the South)," he said.