A Memorial hall for the late poet Kim Nam-ju was opened in the Humanities 1 Building on May 3 at 5 PM. 

The opening ceremony was attended by over 200 people including the family of Kim, members of the Writers Association of Korea, and CNU’s Democratic Fellow’s Association, President Jeong, Park Seung-hyun (the President of the CNU Alumni Association), professors emeritus, staff members, and students.


The attendees looked back on the life of Kim as a poet and traced his links to the bereft and distraught survivors even to this day.

President Jeong stated, paying tribute to the life of Kim, “Kim lived a life of devotion to democracy through literary endeavor that directly opposed the dictatorship. It is closely connected to the history of CNU which too has been at the forefront of protecting democracy, human rights, justice, freedom and peace, that is to say the universal values of humanity. On behalf of CNU, I’d like to express the gratitude to all those who have contributed to and participated with sincerity and love to the renewal of this place to have special significance and historical value as the newly inaugurated memorial hall.”

For the memorial hall, CNU renovated a lecture hall on the first floor on Humanities Building 1, which is a registered cultural property, into a duplex versatile space, of which walls with inscriptions of Kim’s well-known poems, such as “Freedom,” “Mother Land as One,” and “Massacre,” which focus is on the May 18 Democratization Movement. The memorial hall exhibits 25 volumes of Kim’s poetry collection, prose collection, and accompanying translations as well as 6-7 pieces of Kim’s handwritten original drafts and 5 letters, such as “Do not Sing for the May with Leaves that Shed before Wind,” which was written on toilet paper during his time in prison. The chronological record of Kim’s personal history is also on display in English, Chinese, and Japanese.

The memorial hall installed multi-media resources to commemorate the poet and provide educational materials such as audio clips of Kim’s voice, media art works of Lee Lee-nam, songs of An Chi-hwan, video clips and interview with friends and acquaintances, and culminating with an electronic guestbook.