Jang Jin-sung
| Jang Jin-sung | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1970–71 (age 45–47) Sariwon, North Korea |
| Residence | South Korea |
| Occupation | Poet, intelligence officer, propaganda officer |
| Jang Jin-sung | |
| Chosŏn'gŭl | 장진성 |
|---|---|
| Revised Romanization | Jang Jinseong |
| McCune–Reischauer | Chang Chinsŏng |
Jang Jin-sung (Chosŏn'gŭl: 장진성) is the pseudonym of a North Korean poet and government official who defected to South Korea. He had worked as a psychological warfare officer within the United Front Department of the Korean Workers' Party. Jang specifically worked within the United Front Department Section 5 (Literature), Division 19 (Poetry) of Office 101. Office 101 created propaganda intended to encourage South Korean sympathy for North Korea. One of Jang's job duties was to create poetry under a South Korean pseudonym Kim Kyong-min and in a South Korean style. His poetry was intended for distribution within South Korea.
Jang claims to have been one of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's favored propaganda poets. This favoritism occurred after Jang wrote the epic poem Spring Rests on the Gun Barrel of the Lord as part of recurring competitive poetry writing among different North Korean Government departments. Kim Jong Il liked the poem so much it was redistributed in North Korea in 1999. Kim Jong Il's favoritism gained Jang the class status of "The Admitted" for which Jang received extra food rations and political protections.
According to Jang's account, he was forced to flee the country for his life after his friend Young-Min lost a forbidden book from his department on the Pyongyang Metro. As the North Korean State Security Department pursued them, they obtained a fake travel pass and travelled to the north of the country, where they fled across the frozen Tumen River into China After a long period of hiding in China, Jang defected to South Korea in 2004 by reaching the embassy in Beijing.
A few months after arriving in South Korea, in January 2005, Jang became a Senior Analyst for the National Security Research Institute in Seoul, South Korea. The National Security Research Institute is part of the National Intelligence Service of South Korea. In 2010, he left the National Security Research Institute.
In 2011, Jang used his severance to start North Korean defectors' magazine New Focus International (뉴포커스). The magazine aims to report on North Korean news without North Korean media restrictions.
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