윤동주 尹東柱

Poet of the Japanese colonial period, author of the posthumous poetry collection Sky, Wind, Star and Poem

Life & career

He was born in Myeongdong village in Bukgando (northern Jiandao). After graduating from the literature department of Yeonhui College, he went to Japan and studied at Rikkyo University and Doshisha University.

He left poems such as "Prologue" (Seosi), "Counting the Stars at Night" (Byeol heneun bam), and "Self-Portrait" (Jahwasang), giving voice to the anguish of an intellectual under colonial rule and to a pure conscience. Though he could not publish a collection during his lifetime, his posthumous poetry collection Sky, Wind, Star and Poem was published in 1948 and came to be widely loved.

In 1943 he was arrested by the Japanese police on charges of anti-Japanese activity and imprisoned at Fukuoka Prison, where he died in 1945. In 1990 he was posthumously awarded the Order of Merit for National Foundation, Independence Medal.

Grave

Buried in Longjing (Yongjeong), Jilin Province, China.

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