Singer-songwriter and milestone in Korean performance history Kim Min-ki puts down ‘life on the rear’

A mortuary for Kim Min-ki is set up at the funeral hall of Seoul National University Hospital on July 22. Courtesy of Hakchon

Symbolized by “Morning Dew” and “Hakjeon,” Kim Min-ki‘s life was a history of resistance. At the same time, he was a milestone in Korean performance history and a star of Daehangno.

Born in 1951 in Iksan, North Jeolla Province, Kim, the youngest of 10 children, showed prominence in music and art from an early age. He began his musical career while attending Seoul National University. In 1971, he began his musical career as a composer of Yang Hee-eun’s “Morning Dew” and as a composer and singer of his own solo album, “Friend/Road.” His solo album was an important milestone in Korean popular music history because it was filled with mostly self-composed songs, rather than foreign adaptations, which were common at the time.

The value of his music in the 1970s was also relevant to the times. Kim’s songs, such as “Morning Dew” and “Friend,” used literary metaphors rather than directly criticizing the Park Chung-hee regime, the authorities did not turn a blind eye to Kim‘s “rebelliousness.” Most of Kim’s songs were banned from broadcasting.

Finding it difficult to work within the system, Kim Min-ki collaborated with Kim Ji-ha, a contemporary resistance poet. Kim Min-ki added a song to the play "Jesus of the Golden Crown" written by Kim Ji-ha and put it on stage. This gave Kim Min-ki the opportunity to gain experience on stage. After enlisting in the army, Kim wrote “Song of Old Soldier” for a retiring senior sergeant. In the 1970s, Kim paid attention to the lives of laborers while working at night schools, and he also studied traditional music, such as mask dance and pansori.

Hakchon founder and ‘Morning Dew’ singer Kim Min-ki.

The life of Kim, who formed "People Who Find Songs" in 1984 during the Chun Doo-hwan regime and continued his music activities, changed again in 1991 when he opened a small theater Hakchon in Daehangno, Seoul.

The musical “Subway Line 1,” which premiered in 1994, became Hakchon’s representative work and a milestone for small theater musicals.

Adapted from the original story by German writer Volker Ludwig and composer Birger Heymann, it was widely recognized for its portrayal of late 20th-century Korean society through the eyes of the Yenbian maiden “Seonyeo.”

Famous actors, including Hwang Jung-min, Cho Seung-woo, and Seol Kyung-gu, have appeared on “Subway Line 1,” which has attracted 700,000 viewers in total. The musical made history as the first live musical, the first long-term permanent performance, and the first to perform in China.

In addition, the late singer Kim Kwang-seok, Zoo Deulgukhwa, Field, Kwon Jin-won, Ahn Chi-hwan, and Na Yoon-sun sang on the stage of Hakchon. Creative musicals with Korean sentiments and songs were also performed, such as “Mosquito,” “Brother,” and “Dog Poop.” Since 2004, Kim has focused on performing for children. Even though he knew it was not profitable, he continued to put on children’s performances, such as "Red Pepper Paste Tteokbokki" and "We Are Friends."

Kim Min-ki, the composer of \

Unprofitable children‘s performances led to the theater’s financial difficulties. The fact that the center of the performance market shifted to large-scale musicals was also a blow to Hakchon.

In 2013, Hakchon closed its Green Small Theater, and last year, it decided to close the Blue Small Theater following Kim’s stomach cancer diagnosis. The theater completely closed in March after 33 years of planning and producing a total of 359 works.

Currently, Arts Council Korea took over the space and turned it into Arko Arts Theater, a theater focused on children‘s and youth plays, which opened on July 17. Initially, it planned to perform “Subway Line 1,” but Kim refused, saying, "It would be better to clean up the seeds I made and sown on my own." Arko Arts Theater will also have an archive space on the first floor that will display the history of Hakchon.

Although kim made a huge mark in the history of Korean popular music and performances, he was extremely reluctant to take credit for his work during his lifetime. The SBS documentary “Hakchon and Kim Min-ki on the Rear,” which was aired in a trilogy since April, after the theater closed, showed the life of the deceased in a compressive manner. Kim did not respond to the broadcaster’s interview requests. Although everyone in the documentary said that they “owed him,” Kim always tried to be “on the rear.”

Hakchon plans to reorganize and release stories about Kim after his funeral is over.

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.