Late Poet Kim Nam-ju Cleared in Retrial of S. Korean National Liberation Front Case After 46 Years

The late poet Kim Nam-ju, who served prison time after joining the preparatory committee for the South Korean National Liberation Front (Namminjeon), has been acquitted in a retrial 46 years later.

Presiding Judge Han Dae-gyun of Criminal Settlement Division 28 at the Seoul Central District Court delivered the not-guilty verdict today (September 2) during the retrial over charges including violations of the National Security Act.

The court ruled him not guilty on all charges, recognizing that he had suffered illegal detention, violence, threats, and other forms of coercion.

Namminjeon was an underground organization formed in 1976 by figures such as Lee Jae-moon, a former reporter for the Minjok Ilbo, with the goal of carrying out anti-Yushin democratization movements.

Around 80 people were arrested under charges including violations of the National Security Act after engaging in activities such as distributing leaflets criticizing the Yushin regime in downtown Seoul.

This was recorded as the largest security case of the late Yushin era.

Poet Kim was arrested in 1979 on charges of spearheading the anti-Yushin movement, such as joining the Namminjeon preparatory committee in 1978.

He was sentenced to 15 years in prison the following year.

Kim was paroled in 1988 through a suspension of sentence after serving approximately 9 years and 2 months in prison, but passed away from pancreatic cancer in 1994, about 5 years later.

Even behind bars, Kim wrote poetry by sharpening toothbrushes and pressing them onto milk cartons and tin foil.

Some 250 poems written in prison this way were published through his first poetry collection "Requiem" in 1984, followed by "My Sword, My Blood" and "The Fatherland is One."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.