Newsletter

Dokdo Branch, Society of Korean Poets

One hundred poets from the Society of Korean Poets went to Dokdo, Ulleung-gun to hold an arts festival. It was to express their anger over the establishment of Takeshima Day by Japan's Shimane Prefecture in 2005 and over Japan's unfounded claims over Dokdo. The arts festival, under the theme "Korean Blood Flows Through These Rocks," featured various artistic performances and poetry and articulated the poets' determination to safeguard Korean territory. The participating poets decided to carry on Dokdo protection activities in Korea and abroad, and this is how the Dokdo Branch of the Society of Korean Poets was founded.

The Society of Korean Poets is a 50-year-old social network for poets, whose first president was YU Chi-hwan (pen name: Cheongma [Blue Horse]). It currently has around 1,300 members and is involved in a wide range of activities for the development of poetry. The Society's Dokdo Branch focuses on approaching territorial issues through literature; organizes trips to Dokdo, Ulleung-gun for poets; and supports the production of literary works related to Dokdo and other territorial issues. It is also engaged in a collaborative effort to offer assistance to fostering writers and poets among the local youth and residents of the area who may be able to channel their experiences of the region's beautiful natural landscape into works of art.

Underlying the efforts of the Society of Korean Poets is the awareness that Japan's shameless behavior will not stop any time soon and that territorial issues may not be resolved through debates alone. The efforts also demonstrate the belief that literature may be a more flexible means to persuade not only the international community but also Japan.

After the arts festival in Dokdo, Ulleung-gun in 2005, the Society of Korean Poets published a book of illustrated poetry entitled "Dokdo, My Love,"　and distributed it to various educational organizations. In 2006, the Society held the "Love for Our Land"　poetry reading event at the summit of Mount Taebaek. In 2007, the Society of Korean Poets was selected for a collaborative support project by the Northeast Asian History Foundation, visited Dokdo, Ulleung-gun, and offered well-received lectures on literature at schools and at public offices as well as to the public. Thereafter, the Society published "Dokdo is not about Romanticism" and distributed it to various organizations.

The Society of Korean Poets will be holding an event called "Love for Dokdo: An Island of Literature, an Island of the Arts" in May 28-30, 2009 with the support of the Northeast Asian History Foundation. Given their geographical location, schools in the region have difficulty inviting lecturers from the mainland, so these schools have responded especially enthusiastically to the news of the event. The event will help the growth of the Ulleung Literary Society--founded by a group of teachers, which will use the occasion to bring poetry closer to the public. A new collection of works inspired and produced through the event will be published and distributed. The Society will also hold a poetry reading event featuring the participants' favorite poems. It plans to give lectures to teachers on teaching methodologies for literature classes. The original goals of the collaborative project with the Northeast Asian History Foundation was the steadfast development of new content, raising greater awareness about Dokdo and territorial issues across all artistic fields, and putting our love for Dokdo into action. The Society of Korean Poets is determined to keep moving forward in line with these goals.