Kim Jong-chul

Kim Jong-chul (born 25 September 1981) is the middle son of Kim Jong-il, the former leader of North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea). His older half-brother is Kim Jong-nam. His younger brother is Kim Jong-un, now the leader of North Korea.

In 2007, Jong-chul was appointed deputy chief of a leadership division of the Workers' Party. However, on 15 January 2009, the South Korean News Agency reported that Kim Jong-il appointed his youngest son, Jong-un, to be his successor, passing over Jong-nam and Jong-chul.

These reports were supported in April 2009 when Kim Jong-un assumed a low-level position within the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, since Kim Jong-il was groomed by his own father, Kim Il-sung, in a similar way before becoming North Korean leader in 1994.

Early life

Kim Jong-chul was born in 1981. He is the middle son of Kim Jong-il and companion Ko Yong-hui, who died in 2004. Until 2001, it was assumed that Kim Jong-il's eventual heir would be his eldest son, Kim Jong-nam, whose mother was Song Hye-rim. But in May 2001, Kim Jong-nam was arrested at New Tokyo International Airport, Japan, travelling on a forged Dominican Republic passport. He was held and then deported to the People's Republic of China. The incident caused Kim Jong-il to cancel a planned visit to China because of the embarrassment to both countries. As a result of this incident, Kim Jong-nam had fallen from favour. He was later reported to be living in Macau.

Kim Jong-chul (poet)

Kim Jong-chul (born in Busan in 1947) is a South Korean poet. He rose to fame in 1968 when he was awarded a prize by the Hankook newspaper for his poem Sound of a Loom. In 1970 Kim won another prize with the Seoul Daily newspaper for his poem Drowned Dreams. He is considered one of the most significant Korean poets of current times.

Kim grew up in extreme poverty. He graduated in Korean Literature from Sorabol University of Arts in Seoul in 1970. In 1997 and 1998 he lectured poetry at PyeongTaek University. He is a member of the Korean Poets Association and the Korean Writers Association. Among the many prizes Kim has won are the Dong-Joo Yoon Literary Prize (1990), the Nam-Myung Literary Prize (1992), the Pyun-Woon Literary Prize (1993) and the Jeong Ji-yong Literary Prize.

Style

Kim's first publications generally explored basic human emotions. These are sometimes thought to be typical of Korean poetry. Basic emotions include: disappointment, sorrow, parting, illness or grief. These emotions are considered basic since everyone naturally lives through these emotions as part of their life. This close relationship with everyday life, as well as the subtleness of the emotions are not only a characteristic of Korean poetry, but particularly of Kim Jong-Chul. Kim is considered exceptionally talented at moving the reader's heart when writing about these basic emotions. There are critiques who argue that this talent can be explained with Kim's biography which includes extreme poverty and growing up in war time. Because he was poor, Kim joined the army to serve in the Vietnam War voluntarily.