The Korean Poet, Kim You-Jeong

He was just 29 when he died, and he wrote 30 Korean novels which became part of the Korean literature.

                                               
As part of the BBB's 5th International Friends Day trip, we visited Kim You-Jeong's home near Chuncheon City in Gangwon Province, where a museum displaying his work and memorabilia educates visitors from all over Korea and the world on the story of one of Korea's famous poets and storytellers.

The village of Sile, where the poet lived, has preserved his house, and his fans can drop by and walk around his courtyard and re-live his poems and stories which were mostly based on the village and its characters.

As our tour bus passed through the farms and valleys of the village and seeing how quiet and green the whole place must have been during Kim You-Jeong's time, I wasn't at all surprised on how much inspiration he must have drawn from his hometown for him to have been able to write those novels which are now loved and part of the Korean literature.

He studied at Yonsei University (then known as Chosun Christian College), while I just able to stroll around that university with friends. He wrote novels, while I...am just writing a blog. Ha-ha-ha!

I am not sure whether there are English translations of his work, which I would like to read someday. (Does anyone have a copy?).

And if by chance, you get to pass through Gimyujeong Station on your way to Chuncheon, that station was named after him (from its old name, Sinnam Station). This station is the only one in Korea named after a person.