Kim Nam-ju (1946–1994) was born in Haenam, the son of a poor farmer. He resisted South Korea's Yushin constitutional system and its authoritarian government, and was implicated in what became known as the Namminjeon Incident, spending nine years and three months in prison as a result. This case stands as a representative example of the harsh political climate in South Korean society in the late 1970s, and it was through this period that Kim Nam-ju established himself as a leading voice of Korean resistance literature.
Even after his release, he continued a life devoted to the democratization movement, and he held to this stance until his death from pancreatic cancer. His birthplace in Bonghak-ri, Samsan-myeon, has been restored by the Kim Nam-ju Memorial Association and is now open to the public, with a memorial park built alongside it. Every year from late October to early November, the Kim Nam-ju Literary Festival is held on the grounds of this birthplace. The nine years he spent in prison left an indelible scar on the poet's life, but that same site is now, each year, transformed into the stage of a festival that keeps his memory alive.