Lim Su-kyung

Lim Su-kyung (also spelled as Lim Soo-kyung; Korean: 임수경; born 6 November 1968) is a South Korean activist and politician. She is best known for attending the 13th World Festival of Youth and Students, held in North Korea and praising President of North Korea Kim Il-sung in 1989, without first obtaining travel permission from the South Korean government.[1] She attended the festival representing the student organization Jeondaehyop, now known as Hanchongryun. Upon her return to South Korea, she was arrested and sentenced to five years' imprisonment.

In this Korean name, the family name is Lim.
Lim Su-kyung
임수경 or 림수경
Lim Su-kyung meeting Kim Il-sung
Member of the National Assembly
In office
30 May 2012 – 29 May 2016
ConstituencyProportional Representation №21
Personal details
Born (1968-11-06) 6 November 1968
Seoul, South Korea
Political partyDemocratic
Alma materHankuk University of Foreign Studies
Lim Su-kyung
Hangul
임수경 and 림수경
Hanja
Revised RomanizationIm Su-gyeong
McCune–ReischauerIm Su-gyŏng

Visit to North Korea

In 1989, Lim famously visited North Korea to attend the 13th World Festival of Youth and Students as the one-person delegation of the League of South Korean University Students.[2] Initially, the league had been denied permission to send a delegation by the South Korean authorities. Undeterred, the league tasked a student group particularly known for its international connections, Korean Student Christian Federation, with making the visit possible, and so Lim became involved. She was not a student leader and was more of a "messenger". An itinerary was carefully planned so as to get her into North Korea without attracting the attention of South Korean intelligence. She travelled for 10 days to reach North Korea via Japan and Germany.[3] Her stay there took 45 days and culminated in meeting President Kim Il-sung.[2]

Lim crossed the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) back into South Korea on 15 August 1989.[4] She was the first civilian from either of the two Koreas to do so openly since the end of the Korean War.[2] She was arrested on charges of violating the National Security Act.[1] Some of her student associates were arrested as well.[3] Lim was initially sentenced to prison for a term of 12 years, which was later commuted to five. She ended up serving only three years and was released under a special amnesty.[2] She was pardoned in 1999 by South Korean President Kim Dae-jung. Lim claims that her attendance at the Festival was a purely selfless act.

Lim's legacy took two separate trajectories in South Korea, where here reputation was tarnished as she was seen to have embarrassed her country's authorities, and in the North where she is considered a hero. In the South, she is considered one of the most controversial visitors to the North.[2] In the North, Lim was given the nickname Flower of Unification or Flower of Reunification (Korean: 통일의 꽃) by the North Korean government.[1] She was also made the subject of a documentary film called Hail Lim Su-kyung, the Flower of Unification (1989).[2]

Political career

In April 2012, she was elected as a member of the 19th National Assembly as the Democratic United Party's 21st proportional representative.[5]

In June 2012, in a confrontation with a North Korean defector in a bar, Lim hurled insults and referred to a ruling party lawmaker as a "son-of-a-bitch betrayer" and another as a "traitor" in what has been described by Korea JoongAng Daily as "an alcohol-fueled tirade at a Seoul restaurant", questioning their legitimacy to challenge her as a lawmaker.[6] This led to public protests.[6]

The Argentinian filmmaker José Luis García made the 2012 documentary La chica del sur ("The Girl From the South"), focusing on Lim, as well as his experience participating in the 13th World Festival of Youth and Students, where he met her.[7] The film shows Lim's struggle for a united Korea in 1989, and two further reunions between her and Garcia in South Korea and Argentina in 2012. La chica del sur tries to show the development of her thoughts and character after years of media attention, prison, the death of her son and divorce. It was shown and awarded in the Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival (BAFICI) 2012 and Lakino festival 2013.[8] In 2014 the documentary was awarded the Argentine Film Critics Association Silver Condor (Cóndor de Plata) for Best Documentary.[9]

See also

References
  1. Lee Jong-tak(이종탁) (29 September 2009). 이종탁이 만난 사람, 통일의 꽃 임수경 [Interview with Lee Jong-tak, the flower of unification: Lim Su-kyung]. Monthly Kyunghyang (in Korean). Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  2. Kim 2014, p. 71.
  3. Barracough 2019, p. 94.
  4. Kim 2014, p. 70.
  5. 비례대표 당선자 명단: 민주통합당 [List of elected proportional representatives: DUP]. Segye Finance news (in Korean). 12 April 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  6. "For defector-traitor tirade, Lim apologizes anew". Korea JoongAng Daily. 5 June 2012.
  7. La chica del sur IMDb
  8. La chica del sur - Official Site Lachicadelsur.com.ar
  9. "Wakolda" won seven awards and dominated the Silver Condor night Télam

Works cited
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