View source for Cho Ki-chon

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{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2015}}
{{Korean name|Cho}}
{{Infobox writer <!--For more information, see [[:Template:Infobox Writer/doc]].-->
| name = Cho Ki-chon
| honorific_prefix =
| honorific_suffix =
| image = Jo Ki-chon portrait.jpg
| image_size =
| alt = Portrait of Cho
| caption =
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| pseudonym =
| nickname = {{ubl|"Korea's Mayakovsky"|"Pushkin of Korea"}}
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1913|11|06|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Ael'tugeu, Vladivostok District, Russia
| death_date = {{death date and age|1951|07|31|1913|11|06|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Pyongyang]]
| resting_place = [[Patriotic Martyrs' Cemetery]]
| occupation = [[Poet]]
| language = Korean
| nationality = Korean
| citizenship =
| education =
| alma_mater = [[Gorky Omsk State Pedagogical University]]
| period =
| genres = [[Epic poetry]], [[lyric poetry]]
| subject = [[Cult of personality of Kim Il-sung]]      <!-- or: | subjects =    -->
| movement = [[Socialist realism]]
| notableworks = ''Mt. Paeketu'',<br />"Whistle"<!-- or: | notablework = -->
| spouse = Kim Hae-sŏn (late 1930s){{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=65}}      <!-- or: | spouses =     -->
| partner =       <!-- or: | partners =    -->
| children = Yurii Cho (son){{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=58}}
| relatives =
| awards = {{ubl|Festival Prize|[[Order of the National Flag]], 2nd class (1951)|National Prize, 1st class for ''Mt. Paektu'' (1948) and ''Korea is Fighting'' (1952)}}
| signature =
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{{Infobox Korean name
| hangul    =조기천<ref name="Interrelation"/>
| hanja     =趙基天<ref name="Review"/>
| rr        =Jo Gi-cheon<ref name="Foundation"/>
| mr        =Cho Ki-ch'ŏn{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=55}}
| koreanipa =
| context   =north
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{{Contains Korean text}}
'''Cho Ki-chon''' ({{lang-ko|조기천}}; 6 November 1913&nbsp;– 31 July 1951) was a [[Koryo-saram|Russian-born]] [[North Korea]]n [[poet]]. He is regarded as "a founding father of North Korean poetry"{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=56}} whose distinct Soviet-influenced style of [[lyrical poetry|lyrical]] [[epic poetry]] in the [[socialist realist]] genre became an important feature of [[North Korean literature]]. He was nicknamed "Korea's [[Mayakovsky]]" after the writer whose works had had an influence on him and which implied his breaking from the literature of the old society and his commitment to communist values.{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=56}} After a remark made by [[Kim Jong-il]] on his 2001 visit to Russia, [[North Korean media]] has referred to Cho as the "[[Pushkin]] of Korea".<ref>{{cite journal|journal=The Comparatist|date=May 2013|volume=37|doi=10.1353/com.2013.0012|last=David-West|first=Alzo|title=Review Essays: Tatiana Gabroussenko, Soldiers on the Cultural Front: Developments in the Early Literary History of North Korean Literature and Literary Policy|pages=298, 304 n4}}</ref>

Cho was dispatched by the Soviet authorities to [[liberation of Korea|liberated Korea]] when the [[Red Army]] [[Soviet invasion of Manchuria|entered in 1945]]. By that time, he had substantial experience with [[Soviet literature]] and literature administration. The Soviets hoped that Cho would shape the cultural institutions of the new state based on the Soviet model. For the Soviets, the move was successful and Cho did not only that but also significantly developed socialist realism as it would become the driving force of North Korean literature and arts.{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=85}}

Cho offered some of the earliest contributions to [[Kim Il-sung's cult of personality]].{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=86}} His most famous work is ''Mt. Paektu'' (1947), a lyrical epic praising Kim Il-sung's guerrilla activities and promoting him as a suitable leader for the new North Korean state. Other notable works by Cho include {{Interlanguage link multi|Whistle (Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble song)|ko|3=휘파람 (노래)|lt="Whistle"}}, a seemingly non-political love poem which was later adapted as a popular song that is known in both North and South Korea.

During the [[Korean War]], Cho wrote wartime propaganda poems. He died during the war in an American bombing raid. He and his works are still renowned in North Korean society.

==Life and career==
Cho Ki-chon was born to poor Korean peasants in the village of [[Ael'tugeu]] in the [[Vladivostok District]] of the [[Russian Far East]] on 6 November 1913.{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=58}}{{efn|group=nb|According to Tatiana Gabroussenko, Cho's place of birth in Russia is verified by both Soviet records as well as his friends and relatives. Both North Korean and some South Korean sources incorrectly state that he was born in [[Wonsan-ri]], [[Hoeryong County]], [[North Hamgyong Province]] in Korea.{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|pp=58–59}}<ref name="Paektu"/>}} The Pacific region of the Soviet Union, where he lived, was a center for [[Korean independence activists]].<ref name="Foundation">{{Cite web | script-title=ko:趙基天 詩의 기반과 세계|trans-title =Foundation and World of Jo Gi-cheon (趙基天)'s Poetry | author =Luo Jin Hyun | work = DBpia | date =2011 | accessdate = 6 July 2015 | url = http://www.dbpia.co.kr/Journal/ArticleDetail/1603449|language=Korean}}</ref> He particularly drew literary inspiration from {{Interlanguage link multi|Cho Myong-hui|ko|3=조명희}}, a fellow Korean writer living in the Soviet Union who&nbsp;– in believing in national emancipation by upholding socialist principles&nbsp;– had already written about anti-Japanese guerillas.{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=89n41}}<ref name="Foundation"/> Thus he acquired a nationalistic and [[class conscious]] worldview in his literature.<ref name="Review">{{Cite web | script-title=ko:趙基天論 – 생애와 문학 활동에 대한 재검토|trans-title = Discourse on Cho Ki Cheon&nbsp;— Review on His Life and Literary Activity| author = Luo Jin Hyun | work = DBpia | date = 2010 | accessdate = 6 July 2015 | url = http://www.dbpia.co.kr/Journal/ArticleDetail/1365969|language=Korean}}</ref>

===Before emigrating from the Soviet Union===
[[File:Mosaic Depicting Kim Il Sungs Homecoming, Pyongyang, North Korea (2907648510).jpg|thumb|left|alt=Mosaic of Kim Il-sung waving at a crowd|It is possible that Cho translated Kim Il-sung's victory speech of 1945 into Korean. Cho moved to North Korea that year.]]
Cho studied at the [[Korean Teachers College]] in [[Ussuriysk|Voroshilov-Ussuriysk]] between 1928 and 1931. During that time, he was also a member of the communist youth league of the Soviet Union, [[Komsomol]].{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=61}}

Cho was initially supposed to enroll at the [[Moscow University]], but he was robbed at a train station in [[Omsk]]. With no money, Cho was stranded and had to work at a [[kolkhoz]] in Omsk for the summer to get some. The rector of the Omsk University, Aleksandr Sergeevitch Slivko was touched by his fate and decided to admit him in the university.{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=89 n38}} Thus, from 1933 until his graduation in 1937,{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=61}}<ref name="Soviet"/> he attended the Faculty of Literature of the [[Gorky Omsk State Pedagogical University]].{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=61}} Although he was not fluent in Russian upon entering the university, he graduated with excellent marks,{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=89 n38}} and his time spent there amplified his Russian and Soviet sides.{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|pp=61–62}} He returned to the Far East and took up teaching responsibilities at the [[Korean Pedagogical Institute]] in [[Vladivostok]] until all ethnic Koreans [[Deportation of Koreans in the Soviet Union|were forcibly moved to Central Asia]], and the Institute along with Cho were relocated to [[Kzyl-Orda]], [[Kazakh SSR]] in 1937. The following year Cho went to Moscow and tried to enroll at the [[Moscow Literature University]], only to find himself arrested on the spot for breaking the law confining Koreans to Central Asia. He then returned to the Institute in Kzyl-Orda and worked there until 1941.{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=63}}

Between 1942 and 1943, Cho served in the [[Soviet 25th Army]]'s headquarters in Voroshilov-Ussuriysk in desk duty, and in a similar assignment in the [[Soviet Pacific Fleet|Pacific Navy]] in [[Khabarovsk]] between 1943 and 1945 and in the [[Far Eastern Front|First Far Eastern Front]] from October 1945. A part of his job was to write propaganda leaflets spread by the [[Soviet Red Army]] in Korea. Tatiana Gabroussenko thinks it is probable that he also translated the first speech given by Kim Il-sung after [[Liberation of Korea|the liberation]],{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=64}} on 14 October 1945, called "[[Every Effort for the Building of a New Democratic Korea]]",<ref name="Suh1981">{{cite book|author=Dae-Sook Suh|title=Korean communism, 1945–1980: a reference guide to the political system|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=In-OAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=7 July 2015|year=1981|publisher=University Press of Hawaii|isbn=978-0-8248-0740-5|page=27}}</ref> into Korean. The original speech was written by Soviet officers.{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=64}} Cho entered North Korea with the Red army that year.{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=65}}

===Creating model literature in North Korea===
Immediately after the liberation of Korea, Soviet authorities sent Cho, who was fluent in both Korean and Russian,<ref name="Activity"/> to North Korea in order to shape the country's literary institutions on the Soviet model. Cho diligently followed the [[Workers' Party of Korea|Workers' Party]]'s instructions to "immerse [oneself] in the masses" and would visit factories, villages and farms and write poems based on these experiences. His experiences in the Soviet Union helped him in producing explicitly political works. Many other authors were not equally adept to write about political subjects and were reluctant to visit places of work.{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=77}} His role in shaping North Korean literature was to be pivotal.<ref name="Activity">{{Cite web | script-title=ko:재소(在蘇) 고려문인들의 북한문학 형성기의 활동과 역할 – 조기천을 중심으로|trans-title = The activity and roles of Koryo literary men in USSR of forming North Korean literature&nbsp;— Focusing on Jo Ki Cheon| author = Kim Nak-hyeon | work = DBpia | date = 2011 | accessdate = 6 July 2015 | url = http://www.dbpia.co.kr/Journal/ArticleDetail/1555044|language=Korean}}</ref> Cho's early works ''Mt. Paektu'' ([[McCune–Reischauer|MR]]: ''Paektusan'', 1947) and ''Land'' ([[McCune–Reischauer|MR]]: ''Ttang'', 1946{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=69}}) would point out the direction that North Korean literature was about to take.<ref name="Review"/> These very works would soon become models for North Korean literature.{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=68}} Upon his return, he started writing for ''[[Chosŏn Sinmun]]'', the Soviet Red Army's Korean-language paper,{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=65}} working as a correspondent and translator.<ref name="Soviet"/> He translated works of such Soviet poets as [[Mayakovsky]], Gribachev, and [[Jambyl Jabayev]].{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=65}}

The literary circles of the time were divided based on divisions in North Korean politics as a whole. Cho associated himself with the other ethnic Koreans who had come from the Soviet Union. This literary group was close to the political [[Soviet Koreans faction]].{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=65}}

During the [[Korean War]], Cho worked for ''[[Rodong Sinmun]]'' and also wrote propaganda poems.{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|pp=82–83}} Before the war, he had been a member of the Standing Committee of the [[North Korean Literary and Art Federation]].{{sfn|Kim|2014|p=120}} In 1951, he was selected the vice-chairman of the unified {{Interlanguage link multi|Korean Federation of Literature and Arts|ko|3=조선문학예술총동맹}} ([[McCune–Reischauer|MR]]: ''Chosŏn munhakyesul ch'ongdongmaeng'', KFLA) which was chaired by [[Han Sorya]]. He was a member of its subdivision called the Literature Organization ([[McCune–Reischauer|MR]]: ''Munhak tongmaeng'').{{sfn|Wit|2015|p=43}}

==Works==

===In the Soviet Union===
While still at the Pedagogical Institute, Cho released a novel. The novel describes anti-Japanese armed struggle,<ref name="Foundation"/> and is similar in content to his later work ''Mt. Paektu''. The novel might have acted as a prototype for it.<ref name="Study">{{Cite web | script-title=ko:장편서사시 『白頭山』 연구 – 창작 의도를 중심으로|trans-title = A Study on Long Epic Poetry Titled 『Mt. Baekdu』 – Focusing on Creative Intention – | author =Kim Nak-hyeon | work = DBpia | date = 2014 | accessdate = 6 July 2015 | url = http://www.dbpia.co.kr/Journal/ArticleDetail/3471823|language=Korean}}</ref> In addition to poetry and poetic criticism, Cho was interested in drama.<ref name="Foundation"/> Cho contributed to the creation of a drama called ''Hong Beom-do'', about the revolutionary [[Hong Beom-do]],<ref name="Creative">{{Cite web | script-title=ko:장편서사시『白頭山』의 창작토대|trans-title = Creative Foundation of 『Baekdusan』 as Long Epic Poetry | author = Luo Jin Hyun | work = DBpia | date = 2014 | accessdate = 6 July 2015 | url = http://www.dbpia.co.kr/Journal/ArticleDetail/3557556|language=Korean}}</ref> by Tae Jang-chun and other [[Koreans living in the Soviet Union]]. ''Mt. Paektu'' retains elements from this work, too.<ref name="Study"/> He published his first poem the age of 17 in a Korean newspaper, ''[[Sŏnbong (newspaper)|Sŏnbong]]'', in Russia. Between 1930 and 1933 he wrote poems such as "The Morning of the Construction", "To the Advanced Workers", "The Military Field Study" and "Paris Commune".{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=61}} While still in the Soviet Union, he also wrote poems "To Rangers" and "Outdoor Practice".<ref name="Foundation"/>

===In North Korea===
After moving to North Korea, Cho released "New Year".<ref name="Foundation"/> Other poems by him include: "Tuman River" ([[McCune–Reischauer|MR]]: ''Tumanggang'', 1946) about the suffering of Koreans under Japanese rule and "Our Way" (''Uri-ŭi kil'', 1949) on Soviet-Korean friendship.{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=77}} ''The Song of Life'' (''Saeng'ai-ŭi Norae'', 1950) is a long epic about industrialization. It praises the country's developing industry but fails to take note of its roots in Japanese projects during the occupation.<ref>{{cite thesis|type=Ph.D.|last=Gabroussenko|first=Tatiana|date=2004|title=The Implantation of Socialist Realism in the DPRK and North Korean Literary Politics 1945–1960|publisher=Australian National University|page=48|url=https://digitalcollections.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/10805#.pdf|oclc=271843341}}</ref> It also features a theme often found in Stalinist fiction: "[[class enemies]]" that seek to hamper progress.{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=77}} Other poems include: ''Land'', "Aircraft Hunters",<ref name="Paektu">{{cite book|chapter=Short Biography|title=Mt. Paektu: An Epic Poem|author=Cho Ki-chon|publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House|location=Pyongyang|year=1990|url=http://www.naenara.com.kp/en/book/download.php?8+8005#.pdf|page=[0]|oclc=24937247}}</ref> "On the Burning Street" (''Pul'anŭn kŏriesŏ'', 1950), "Korean Mother" (''Chosŏn-ŭi ŏmŏni'', 1950), " My Heights" (''Na-ŭi koji'', 1951), "We are Korean Youth" (''Urinŭn Chosŏn Ch'ŏngnyŏnida'', 1951){{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=82}} as well as [[lyric poem]]s "Swing"<ref name="KCNA2001"/> (''Kŭne''){{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=79}} and "Sitting On a White Rock" (''Hŭin pauie anjaso'', 1947).{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=78}} The serial poem ''Resistance in Yosu'' (''Hangjaeng-ŭi yŏsu''){{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=77}} tells about the [[Yeosu–Suncheon Rebellion|Yosu uprising]] in [[South Korea]].<ref name="Soviet"/> The lyric epic ''Land'' was written on the Workers' Party's orders on producing works about the [[land reform in North Korea]] after the liberation,{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=77}} and was the first poem to describe the topic.<ref name="Activity"/> Cho wrote lyrics for "Mungyong Pass", a song about [[Korean People's Army]] soldiers fighting their way through [[Kyonggi]] to [[Ryongnam]].<ref name="Orchestral">{{Cite web | title = Orchestral Music "Mungyong Pass" | agency = KCNA | date = 1 July 2013 | accessdate = 22 July 2015 | archivedate = 12 October 2014 | url = http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2013/201307/news01 | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20141012133748/http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2013/201307/news01/20130701-14ee.html }}</ref>

While all of the poems are thoroughly ideological,{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=78}} some South Korean scholars such as Yi Chang-ju of the [[North Research Institution]]{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=57}} have sought to emphasize Cho's lyrical side in order to "domesticate" him to serve rapprochement between the two countries' cultural orientations.{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=79}} Some of Cho's poems have been adapted into popular music lyrics that enjoy popularity in the South as well as the North. {{Interlanguage link multi|Whistle (Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble song)|ko|3=휘파람 (노래)|lt="Whistle"}} (''Hŭip'aram''), "Willow" (''Suyang pŏtŭl'') and "Swing" are love songs that were inspired by a more relaxed cultural atmosphere following the translation of Russian-language poetry into Korean. These influence include [[Mikhail Isakovsky]]'s "[[Katyusha (song)|Katyusha]]",{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=79}} to which "Whistle" in particular bears likeness.{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=80}} "Whistle", adapted as a popular song in 1990, is often seen in the South as a non-political song.<ref>{{cite book|title=Korean Unification Bulletin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mSAOAQAAMAAJ|accessdate=17 July 2015|year=2001|publisher=Ministry of Unification of the Republic of Korea|page=46}}</ref> However, according to Gabroussenko, South Korean observers often fail to notice the political and cultural elements borrowed from Isakovsky and Soviet lyrical poetry.{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|pp=80–81}} In "Whistle", for instance, the couple embodies exemplary socialist traits:{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=80}}
{{Poemquote|text=
Today you again smiled purely,
And said that you have overfilled the production plan threefold,
But I do not envy your achievement,
I can do even better,
But I like your smile.
Why is it so pure?|title={{Interlanguage link multi|Whistle (Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble song)|ko|3=휘파람 (노래)|lt="Whistle"}}<ref>{{Cite book|author=Cho Ki-chon|year=153|chapter=Hŭip'aram|trans-chapter=Whistle|title=Cho Ki-chŏn sŏnjip|trans-title=Anthology of Cho Ki-chon|volume=2|page=69}} Translation in {{harvnb|Gabroussenko|2005|p=80}}</ref>
}}

====''Mt. Paektu''====
[[File:Grand Monument Samjiyon 07.jpg|thumb|alt=A crowd looking at a large statue depicting young Kim Il-sung in military attire|Cho's epic ''Mt. Paektu'' promotes Kim Il-sung as a heroic guerilla who is well-suited to lead the country.]]
Cho's long [[epic poem]] ''Mt. Paektu''{{sfn|Kim|2014|p=119}}{{efn|group=nb|{{Korean|hangul=백두산|hanja=白頭山|mr=Paektusan|rr=Baekdusan|context=north}}<ref name="Interrelation"/><ref name="Study"/>{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=69}}}} was written in February 1947<ref name="Paektu"/> and published in 1948 in ''Rodong Sinmun''.{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=69}} It was the first poem written about [[Kim Il-sung]],<ref name="KCNA2001">{{Cite web | title = Famous Korean poet | agency = KCNA | date = 5 July 2001 | archivedate = 12 October 2014 | accessdate = 22 July 2015 | url = http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2001/200107/news07/05.htm#8 | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20141012062940/http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2001/200107/news07/05.htm#8 }}</ref> whom the original version of the poem simply refers to as "Commander Kim". The poem, which tells the story of the [[Battle of Pochonbo]] in 1937,  is a classic in literature portraying the [[anti-Japanese struggle]].<ref name="Study"/>{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=69}} Its text inextricably links Kim Il-sung's person with [[Paektu Mountain]], the namesake height of the poem{{snd}}a connection that has remained central in [[North Korean propaganda]] to this day.<ref name="Berthelier2013">{{Cite web | title = Symbolic Truth: Epic, Legends, and the Making of the Baekdusan Generals | last = Berthelier | first = Benoit  | work = Sino-NK | date = 17 May 2013 | accessdate = 21 April 2016 | url = http://sinonk.com/2013/05/17/symbolic-truth-epic-legends-and-the-making-of-the-baektusan-generals/ }}</ref>

The poem has its origins in Cho's fascination with the anti-Japanese guerrillas, including Rim Chun-chu and Ch'oe Hyŏn, with whom he had met.<ref>{{cite book |author=Kim Il-sung |date=1998 |title=Reminiscences: With the Century| edition=Continuing | volume=8 |url=http://www.naenara.com.kp/en/book/download.php?2+2008#.pdf |location=Pyongyang |publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House |page=253 |oclc=28377167 |accessdate=16 October 2014 }}</ref>{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=69}} The creation of the epic was politically motivated, too, as the Soviets, who had dispatched Cho to North Korea, wanted to strengthen Kim Il-sung's grip on power. Publications presenting him as a legendary anti-Japanese hero were needed, and so ''Mt. Paektu'' was born.<ref name="Study"/> The work is dedicated "to the glorious Soviet Army that liberated Korea",{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=70}} and is written with the Soviets and not the Koreans in mind.{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=73}}

Due to vigorous promotion of a "mass culture" in both the output and readership of literature, copies of ''Mt. Paektu'' were printed by the hundreds of thousands, more than any work in the history of [[Korean literature]] before that.<ref>{{cite web|last=Berthelier|first=Benoit|year=2014|title=Mass culture, class identity and the North Korean movement for the popularization of arts and letters (1945–1955)|publisher=AKS World Congress of Korean Studies 2014|url=http://congress.aks.ac.kr/korean/files/2_1413767631.pdf#7|page=7|access-date=21 April 2015|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20160508142905/http://congress.aks.ac.kr/korean/files/2_1413767631.pdf#7|archive-date=8 May 2016}}</ref> Generally speaking, the poem was well received. The public was interested and young readers acclaimed it.{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=73}} It was liked in the KFLA as it employed revolutionary romanticism in its portrayal of Kim.{{sfn|Kim|2014|p=119}} Kim personally liked the poem, too, and began visiting Cho's home.{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=76}} In his memoirs ''[[With the Century]]'', Kim writes that he was the first person to listen to Cho recite the poem and liked its "jewel-like sentences". More than aesthetic, Kim says he was attracted to the content and they both "shed tears" when Cho chanted a passage about fallen comrades.<ref>{{cite book |author=Kim Il-sung |date=1993|title=Reminiscences: With the Century | volume=3 |url=http://www.naenara.com.kp/en/book/download.php?2+2003#.pdf |location=Pyongyang |publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House |pages=538–539 |oclc=28377167 |accessdate=16 October 2014 }}</ref>

In keeping with its nature as propaganda, the content of ''Mt. Paektu'' exaggerates Kim Il-sung's activities during the liberation struggle.<ref name="Interrelation"/> The poem presents Kim as having heroic, transcendental, humane and warm qualities.<ref name="Study"/> He is represented as a popular hero that the people look up to,<ref name="Political">{{Cite web | script-title=ko:조기천의 『백두산』과 개작의 정치성|trans-title = The political sense of adaptation and Jo Gi-Chuns's Baekdusan | author = Yeo Ji-seon | work = DBpia | date = 2006 | accessdate = 6 July 2015 | url = http://www.dbpia.co.kr/Journal/ArticleDetail/550585|language=Korean}}</ref> suggesting that he is the right person to lead the newly established state.<ref name="Study"/> Politically, ''Mt. Paektu'' was very effective in the newly founded state.<ref name="Interrelation">{{Cite web | script-title=ko:북한 정치사와의 상관성으로 살펴본 조기천의 1955년 판 『백두산』|trans-title = A Study on the Interrelation between Jo Gi-Chun's Baekdusan 1955 Text and the Political History of North Korea | author =Go Hyeon-cheol | work = DBpia | accessdate = 6 July 2015| date = 2005| url = http://www.dbpia.co.kr/Journal/ArticleDetail/856696|language=Korean}}</ref> As such, it became a "new classic",{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=76}} a model for the [[cult of personality of Kim Il-sung]] perpetuated by subsequent works of literature in North Korea.<ref name="Study"/> According to [[B. R. Myers]], the work exemplifies particular traits of an early cult of personality built upon Soviet [[Marxism–Leninism]] and bloc conformity, which were soon replaced by [[Korean ethnic nationalism]] of writers like Han Sorya.<ref>{{cite book|last=Myers|first=B. R.|title=North Korea's Juche Myth|year=2015|location=Busan|publisher=Sthele Press|isbn=978-1-5087-9993-1|pages=28, 40 n36}}</ref> While Cho's Kim Il-sung is a brilliant strategist who has masculine qualities like strength and intellect, in Han's works he embodies traditional Korean virtues of innocence and naivity having "mastered Marxism–Leninism with his heart, not his brain". The ethnically inspired style of Han would establish itself as the standard of propaganda over Cho's.<ref name="Myers2011">{{cite book|last=Myers|first=B. R.|title=The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KWQEAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT36|year=2011|publisher=Melville House|location=New York|isbn=978-1-935554-97-4|page=36}}</ref> Benoit Berthelier, however, sees continuity in Cho's work and contemporary propaganda. According to him, Cho can be credited with having created a genre of "revolutionary romanticism", which systematized the use of legends and supernatural imagery in Kim and his successors' cult of personality.<ref name="Berthelier2013"/>

Long epic poetry was not a popular genre in North Korea before ''Mt. Paektu'', but it was in the Soviet Union where Cho had immigrated from.<ref name="Study"/> ''[[Poema]]'' and Mayakovsky's [[Prosody (linguistics)|prosody]] and poetry were also among Cho's influences that can be seen in ''Mt. Paektu''.<ref name="Creative"/> These Russian stylistic influences gave ''Mt. Paektu'' its peculiar characteristics that prompted mixed reactions from the North Korean public. For instance, some in the literature circles were unfamiliar with the concept of a lyrical epic and thought of it as an improbable amalgam of genres,{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=73}} criticizing the work for being indistinguishable from ordinary prose.{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=75}} According to [[North Korean studies]] scholar Alzo David-West, the relatively favorable reaction to ''Mt. Paektu'' compared to some other literature testifies to North Korean readership being capable at being both a receptive and a dismissive audience.<ref>{{cite journal|last=David-West|first=Alzo|title=North Korean Literature and 'Theoretical Problems of Literary Studies': Tatiana Gabrousseko's Soldiers on the Cultural Front|journal=Journal of Asian and African Studies |date=April 2012|volume=47|issue=2|pages=236–249|doi=10.1177/0021909611419946}}</ref>

South Korean scholars have presented two competing views about ''Mt. Paektu'': academics of the older generation typically dismiss ''Mt. Paektu'' as "personality cult literature". Younger generation ''[[minjung]]'' and leftist scholars, however, see guerrillas other than Kim Il-sung&nbsp;— such as Ch'ŏl-ho, Kkot-pun, and Sŏk-jun&nbsp;— and by extension, the people, as the "hero" of the story. For some of them, like Sin Tong-ho, excluding the role of others than Kim Il-sung is an outright obstruction for creating a national unity in literature.{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=70}}

The 1947 text has been revised three times because of changes within the political system of North Korea to produce "heavily revised ''chuch'e'' [''[[Juche]]''] editions":{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=70}} in 1955, 1986 and 1995.<ref name="Political"/> The original version of the poem invokes [[Russian Civil War]] heroes [[Vasily Chapayev]], [[Nikolay Shchors]] and [[Sergey Lazo]],{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=71, 91 n96}} while a newer revision omits them and concentrates on indigenous assets:

{{col-begin}}
{{col-break|width=33%}}
{{Poemquote|text=
The image of a sad, sighing mother
[/A]ppears before his eyes,
He reads the book,
And acquires new strength, and spies his goal.
And this night
[/H]e also thinks[:]
"Soviet Partisans!
Chapaev, Schors, Lazo...
That's how they fought!"|title=''Mt. Paektu'' (1952)<ref>{{cite book|author=Cho Ki-chon |year=1952|chapter=Paektusan|trans-chapter=Mt. Paektu|title=Cho Ki-chŏn sŏnjip|trans-title=Anthology of Cho Ki-chon|volume=1|page=6}} Translation in {{harvnb|Gabroussenko|2005|p=71}}</ref>
}}
{{col-break|width=33%}}
{{Poemquote|text=
And even when he seems to see his mother
Boiling poor gruel with a mournful sigh,
His saviour is the book
[/T]hat he keeps at his side.
His thoughts
[/A]re these:
"As yet we are but few,
But we are certain of ourselves,
And our assurance lights our way.["]|title=''Mt. Paektu'' (1990)<ref name="Paektu2">{{cite book|title=Mt. Paektu: An Epic Poem|author=Cho Ki-chon|publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House|location=Pyongyang|year=1990|url=http://www.naenara.com.kp/en/book/download.php?8+8005#.pdf|page=27|oclc=24937247}}</ref>
}}
{{col-break|width=33%}}
{{Poemquote|text=
{{lang|ko|수심에 어린 어머니의 모습이
기억의 쪽문을 열고 들어설 때도
그이는 책을 보았다-
그러면 새 힘을 얻고 목적을 보았다.
이 밤에도 글줄을 밟으며
훨-훨- 걸어가는 생각-
≪우리 비록 적지만
우리 비록 굶으며 피 흘리지만
인민이 우리를 받들거던[≫]}}|title=''Mt. Paektu'' (1947)<ref>{{cite wikisource |chapter=제4장|wslink=백두산 |trans_title=Mt. Paektu/Chapter 4| wslanguage=ko| author=Cho Ki-chon |year=1947}}</ref>
}}
{{col-end}}

The work was adapted on stage by Han T'ae-ch'ŏn.{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=76}} It has been translated into English, Arabic, French, German, Russian, Spanish,<ref>{{cite book|title=Korea Publications Exchange Association catalogue|url=http://dprk.bplaced.de/Documents/KPEA-Catalogue-2011HP.pdf#57|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714233426/http://dprk.bplaced.de/Documents/KPEA-Catalogue-2011HP.pdf#106|archive-date=14 July 2014|publisher=Korea Publications Exchange Association|page=[106]|year=2011}}</ref> Chinese,<ref name="Service1978">{{cite book|author=British Broadcasting Corporation. Monitoring Service|title=Summary of World Broadcasts: Far East|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8l_VAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=6 July 2015|year=1978|publisher=Monitoring Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation}}</ref> Japanese,<ref name="worl_Haku">{{Cite web | title = Hakutōsan : Chō Kiten shishū (eBook, 1974) [WorldCat.org] | author = | work = worldcat.org| accessdate = 7 July 2015 | url = http://www.worldcat.org/title/hakutosan-cho-kiten-shishu/oclc/766245193&referer=brief_results}}</ref> and Mongolian. Of these, the Mongolian one was deemed "distorted" by North Koreans and sparked a diplomatic crisis in 1976, resulting in expulsion of the Mongolian ambassador to the country.<ref name="VuWongsurawat2009">{{cite book|editor1=Tuong Vu|editor2=Wasana Wongsurawat|title=Dynamics of the Cold War in Asia: Ideology, Identity, and Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2ai_AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA157|date=2009|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|location=New York|isbn=978-0-230-10199-9|page=157}}</ref>

==Death and legacy==
Cho died on 31 July 1951 in his office in [[Pyongyang]] during an American bombing raid in the war.{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|pp=56, 85}}

''Mt. Paektu'' received the [[National Prize]], first class, in 1948.<ref name="Soviet">{{cite book|title=Cho Ki-chon|work=The Great Soviet Encyclopedia|edition=3rd|year=1970–1979|publisher=The Gale Group, Inc.|access-date=5 July 2015|url=http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Cho+Ki-Chon}}</ref> Cho's works were awarded the [[Festival Prize]], the country's highest literary honor, modeled after the [[Stalin Prize]].{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=68}} He also was awarded the [[Order of the National Flag]], second class, for his work during the war in 1951,{{sfn|Wit|2015|p=44}} as well as a posthumous National Prize, first class, in 1952 for his cycle of poems ''Korea is Fighting''<ref name="Soviet"/> ([[McCune–Reischauer|MR]]: ''Chosŏnŏn Ssaunda'', 1951).{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=82}}

His resting place is at the [[Patriotic Martyrs' Cemetery]], in Pyongyang.<ref name="web._다른신문">{{Cite web | script-title = ko:북한의 열사릉, 그 상징과 폭력: 혁명열사릉과 애국열사릉 | work = Prometheus | date = 13 August 2013 | access-date= 22 July 2015 | archivedate=24 December 2013 | url=http://www.prometheus.co.kr/articles/120/20060813/20060813190300.html |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131224114520/http://www.prometheus.co.kr/articles/120/20060813/20060813190300.html | language = Korean}}</ref> Today, Cho is regarded as the founding father of North Korean socialist realist poetry,{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=85}} or indeed poetry in general,{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=56}} or even North Korean literature as a whole.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gabroussenko|first=Tatiana|title=Soldiers on the Cultural Front: Developments in the Early History of North Korean Literature and Literary Policy|isbn=978-0-8248-3396-1|year=2010|publisher=University of Hawai'i Press|page=11}}</ref> In the mid-1950s many Soviet Koreans, including Cho's close friends, were discredited in purges. According to Gabroussenko, Cho's untimely death in 1951 may have spared him his reputation from that loss of official recognition. With the exception of a period in the 1970s when Cho's name was barely mentioned in official publications, his legacy has benefited from continued popularity in North Korea.{{sfn|Gabroussenko|2005|p=86}}

==See also==
{{Portal|North Korea|Biography|Poetry}}
* [[Han Sorya]]
* [[History of North Korea]]
* [[Korean poetry]]
* [[North Korean literature]]

==Notes and references==

===Notes===
{{notelist|group=nb}}

===References===
{{reflist|30em}}

===Works cited===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite journal|ref=harv|last=Gabroussenko|first=Tatiana|date=2005|title=Cho Ki-ch'ŏn: The Person Behind the Myths|journal=Korean Studies|volume=29|pages=55|doi=10.1353/ks.2006.0005}}
* {{cite thesis|type=Ph.D.|ref=harv|last=Kim|first=Ellie Sue|publisher=University of California Los Angeles|date=2014|access-date=5 July 2015|title=Rituals of Decolonization: The Role of Inner-Migrant Intellectuals in North Korea, 1948–1967|url=http://escholarship.org/uc/item/04176993#.pdf|oclc=906762110}}
* {{cite thesis|type=Doctorate|ref=harv|last=Wit|first=Jerôme de|date=2015|access-date=5 July 2015|title=Writing Under Wartime Conditions: North and South Korean Writers During the Korean War (1950–1953)|publisher=Leiden University|url=https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/31445/01.pdf?sequence=8|oclc=900144488}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book|title=Cho Ki-chŏn sŏnjip|trans-title=Anthology of Cho Ki-chon|location=Pyongyang|publisher=Munhwa chŏnsŏnsa|date=1952–1953|volume=1–2|language=Korean}}
* {{cite book|last=Gabroussenko|first=Tatiana|title=Soldiers on the Cultural Front: Developments in the Early History of North Korean Literature and Literary Policy|year=2010|publisher=University of Hawai'i Press|isbn=978-0-8248-3396-1}}
* {{cite book|author=Pak Nam-su|title=Chŏkch'i 6 nyŏn pukhan mundan|trans-title=The North Korean Literary World: Six Years Under the Red's Rule|location=Seoul|publisher=Pogosa|year=1999|oclc=45047289|language=Korean}}
* {{cite book|author=Ri Chŏnggu|title=Siin Cho Kich'ŏn ron|trans-title=A Thesis on Poet Cho Ki-chon|location=Pyongyang|publisher=Munye ch'ulp'ansa|date=1953|language=Korean}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Wikisourcelang|ko|저자:조기천|저자:조기천 [Author: Cho Ki-chon]}}
* [http://www.naenara.com.kp/en/book/download.php?8+8005#.pdf Full text of the English edition of ''Mt. Paektu''] at [[Naenara]]
* {{YouTube|GQSb5xUIOyM|Recital of ''Mt. Paektu''}} {{Ko icon}}
* {{YouTube|LCt7NyWwL0M|South Korean performance of the song "Whistle"|link=no}} {{Ko icon}}
* {{YouTube|-EqYWbv9GUE|The song "Mungyong Pass"|link=no}} {{Ko icon}}
* {{YouTube|t-iYHE49xKE|Documentary on "Mungyong Pass"|link=no}} {{Ko icon}}
* {{YouTube|E5sFkXsuesA|Biographical film|link=no}} {{Ko icon}}
* {{YouTube|JpRqXFSSXTU|Talk show about Cho and other artists|link=no}} {{Ko icon}}
* {{Flickr image inline link|kernbeisser/2469446307|Grave of Cho Ki-chon}}
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141012034826/http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2002/200208/news08/23.htm#4 |date=12 October 2014 |title=Anecdote Pushkin of Korea (KCNA) }}
* [http://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Contents/Index?contents_id=E0053365 Cho Ki-chon] at the ''[[Encyclopedia of Korean Culture]]'' {{ko icon}}
* [http://www.cybernk.net/infoText/InfoHumanDetail.aspx?mc=EJ0701&hid=EH010200012174&rightType=3&direct=1 Cho Ki-chon] at ''[[North Korean Human Geography]]'' {{ko icon}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cho, Ki-chon}}
[[Category:North Korean male poets]]
[[Category:1913 births]]
[[Category:1951 deaths]]
[[Category:Koryo-saram]]
[[Category:20th-century North Korean poets]]
[[Category:Socialist realism writers]]
[[Category:Soviet people of Korean descent]]