Kim Choon-soo has Become “the Flower” in Heaven.

Kim Choon-soo, senior poet and linguistic artist, passed over to the majority on Monday morning in his 82nd year.

Born in Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang Province, the deceased once worked as a middle and high school teacher and became a professor at Kyungpook National University and the dean of college of liberal arts at Yeoungnam University. He also served as lawmaker, head of the Korean Poet Association, and member of the National Academy of Arts. He was awarded the Korean Literary Prize, silver culture medal, the Inchon Prize and the Cheong Ma Literary Prize.

He started his career as a poet in 1946 when he published his anthology, which included his poems “The Wing” and “The Elegy,” commemorating the first year anniversary of Korea’s independence from Japan. In 1948, his first collection of poems titled, “Clouds and Roses” was released, followed by other collections including “Sketches of Flower” and “The Death of a Girl in Budapest.” He left a total of 25 collections of his poems.

The bereaved are his children, Young-hee, Young-ae, Yong-mok, director of Shinmyung Construction Co., Yong-uk, a technician at the Resources Development Institute, and Yong-sam, a sculptor. The mortuary where the coffin is placed is located in the Samsung Medical Center. The funeral cortege leaves the hospital at 10:00 a.m. on December 1. A poet funeral service will be held. The burial will be held in a cemetery park in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province. (Telephone: 02-3410-6905, 6915)

Mun-Myung Huh angelhuh@donga.com