A 10-year-old's poem on cooking and eating the mother gets published and turned into a controversy

Understandably, a big controversy is at hand for the publication of a graphic and violent poem written by a 10-year-old elementary student.

Just the other day, Segye Ilbo judged that a portion of the content and illustration from the book on children's poems, 'Solo Dog,' that was released on March 30 were incredibly violent and aggressive.

One in particular was a poem written by a 10-year-old girl, Lee, called "On a Day You Don't Want to Go to Hakwon," in which case the girl suggests you chew up your mother, that you boil and bake her then scoop out her eyes to eat. Even more disturbing is the fact that there's an illustration of a girl tearing a bite out of a heart with blood splattered on the floor by a lifeless hand.

Publisher Kim Suk Boon of the publication company stated, "We would not have published this if it had been written by an adult writer for children. Because it's a book in which young children write their own stories, we printed without modifications. We respected the writer's intentions and judged that it had to be secured as art. Before we published it, we did say that readers might misunderstand the content in this poem, but the writer, Miss Lee, was very upset about this. We did not apply modifications even a little to any of the work loaded onto this collection of poems and the poems in here are frightening, but we are viewing them as art."

Even in relation to the art, Publisher Kim stated, "Just as how the writing is in the field of the writer, we judged and respected that the drawing was in the field of the artist. Once the book leaves the writer, it's in the hands of the reader, and we know that we could get criticism from the readers. However, we also believe that people can see this and discover a sad self-portrait of this generation and can reflect on the wrong education of the young children."

Despite this statement, the publishing company later posted a letter of apology onto the homepage and blog, stating that they received many complaints and rebukes from people concerned that this book would have a negative influence on the children. Saying they would accommodate such complaints and rebukes, the company has decided to recall all of the books and discard them. The company promised to consider the influence of their books more and publish them with more caution from hereon.

One rep stated, "After the holiday ends on May 6, starting from early in the morning, we will retrieve the collection of poems. The ones posted online will also be taken down as quickly as possible."

The full poem reads:

On a Day You Don't Want to Go to Hakwon

"When you don't want to go to hakwon,

like this

"Chew and eat your mom

Boil and eat her, bake and eat her

Spoon her eyeballs and eat them,

Pick out all of her teeth

Tear her hair out

Turn her into lean meat and eat as soup

If she sheds tears, lick them up

Eat her heart last