On July 21, Kim Min-gi 김민기 passed away from cancer-related complications. Long considered one of the greatest Korean pop musicians, Kim composed the anthems of resistance during South Korea’s dictatorship era, and became the leader of Seoul’s indie music scene after democratization.
Born in 1951, Kim majored in art at Seoul National University 국립서울대학교 before dropping out in 1970 to pursue music professionally. As the Park Chung-hee 박정희 dictatorship became increasingly authoritarian, Kim began composing pop ballads with socially conscious lyrics, such as “Morning Dew” 아침이슬 and “Flowering Child” 꽃 피우는 아이.
Kim’s songs became unofficial anthems of South Korea’s democracy movement, leading to his arrest and torture by the dictatorship. Banned from officially performing on any stage, Kim lived as a farmer while secretly writing music to be distributed through unofficial channels, including the 1978 musical Factory Lights 공장의 불빛, a story of factory workers who face a crackdown after attempting to form a union.
After democratization in 1987, Kim founded the Hakchon 학전 theater group in 1991, which went on to become South Korea’s premier venue for independent music and theater. (See previous coverage, “Hakchon Closes.”) Line 1 지하철 1호선, Kim’s adaptation of the German musical of the same name, became Korea’s most successful musical, running at Hakchon for over three decades.