The first time I heard Kim Min-Ki’s songs I was in elementary school. I turned on the radio one evening and the song “Baek-goo” flowed out. The song was about a child who had a dog with long white hair called Baek-goo. Every year Baek-goo had a litter of cute puppies. One day she got sick and was taken to the vet, but before she could get her shot she ran away. Her family looked here and there for her until they heard from an old lady that as Baek-goo was crossing a street, a car had struck her. That night the child dreamed of an early snow falling on the mountainside in soft, white piles, the same soft white as Baek-goo’s fur.

A legendary Korean songwriter gave his people a common language of resistance and hope.