Chu Yo-han
Chu Yo-han (5 December 1900 – 17 November 1979) was a twentieth-century Korean poet, journalist, businessman and politician. He came from the Shinan Chu clan (신안 주씨, 新安朱氏). Biography. Early life. Chu Yo-han was born in Pyongyang, under what was then the Joseon Dynasty. He attended elementary school in Pyongyang, and then middle school at the Meiji Academy and Dai-ichi High School in Japan. At that time, his father, Chu Gong-sam, was dispatched to Tokyo as a missionary toward Korean students studying in Japan. Taking this opportunity, he learned European poets and their  poetry, and wrote many poems actively in a group with other Korean poets. He was the editor of The Creation (Hangul: 창조, Hanja: 創造), the first literary magazine in Korea and was one of the leading figures of the New Poetry movement. When the independence movement staged by Chu and other Korean students in Tokyo failed in 1919, he fled in exile to Shanghai in May 1919. In association with Yi Kwang-su, he worked as a reporter for the provisional government newspaper The Independence ("Dongnip Sinmun", Hangul: 독립신문), He admired and followed Ahn Changho, the leader of the Korean  government in exile. In Shanghai, he entered Hujiang University (Hangul: 호강대학, Hanja: 沪江大学) to study Chemistry. He graduated from Huijang University in 1925. Career. When he returned to Korea after graduation in 1925, he joined Dong-A Ilbo, nationalist newspaper, as a reporter. He was promoted to the editorial writer and then editor-in-chief. Later, he moved to a rival newspaper, Chosun Ilbo. He had a continuous relationship with Ahn Changho as a member of the Young Korean Academy (Hangul: 흥사단, Hanja: 興士團) ever since. At the end of the Japanese occupation of Korea, he was tortured until he  cooperated with the Japanese colonial government in enforcing its conscription and dispatching Korean soldiers to the Pacific battle fields. The Japanese colonial government forced him to change his name into Matsumura Kōichi (Hanja: 松村紘一). After Korea was liberated from the Japanese rule in 1945, Chu worked hard as a businessman to establish and run Youngpoong Company with other partners. In the late 1950, he succeeded to turn into a politician when he was elected two times in a row to the National Assembly in downtown Seoul. Right after the April Revolution in 1960, he was appointed as the Minister of  Commerce and Industry. After the May 16 coup in 1961, he retired from politics and became a businessman again to run a newspaper company (Daehan Ilbo, Hanja: 大韓日報) and a shipping company. Literary works. Chu was considered a representative poet of the 1920 and 30's and his work can be roughly divided into those poems composed before his exile in Shanghai and those written afterward. His earlier poems, written during his years in Japan, reflect the influence of modern Western and Japanese poetry. The influence of the French symbolist poet Paul Fort is especially evident in pieces such as  “Fireworks” ("Bullori"): in a limpid, clear style he sensitively registers the minutest of impressions and manages to lend them a sensual immediacy. You may sense such delicate impressions from two verses of the poem "Bullori", which opened the age of modern poetry in Korea. Chu Yo-han's work as a whole more or less reflects a gradual turning away from styles and forms influenced by Western poetry toward traditional Korean poetry. Like Kim Eok, he was a major figure in Korean Literature who pioneered the move away from Western imitation to his literary roots. He articulates the reasons for  this shift of inspiration in his critical piece, "To the One Who Would Write a Song" ("Noraereul jieusillyeoneun iege"), in which he places the highest value on the creation of beauty and vitality in the Korean language and move on to develop a complete theory of poetry. After 1930, Yohan concentrated on writing "Sijo" (Hanja: 時調), a traditional Korean poetic form, but continued to produce other verse and edited, with others, the poetry anthology Poetry of Three People (Samin sigajip) and an anthology of "Sijo", "Garden Balsam Flower" ("Bongsa kkot". 봉사꽃, 鳳仙花). Honors and criticism. To commemorate Chu Yo-han 's dedication to the development of the Korean literature and industries, the South Korean government conferred on him posthumously honors of Rose of Sharon (Hangul: 무궁화장) in 1979. It is to be noted in addition that several hymns are composed by him, which contributed development church music of Korea. As much as Chu Yo-han is admired as the pioneer of modern poetry, warmhearted social movement and adventurous business leadership, he has been criticized as a pro-Japan poet-journalist even before the Pacific War (1941 – 1945). His pro-Japan activities included donations of a large amount of war expenses , collaboration with pro-Japan organizations, writing pro-Japan poetry, making speeches encouraging Korean young men to participate in the war, etc. So to speak, Chu was in the same boat as Yi Kwang-su, old colleague in Shanghai.