Poet Ahn Do-hyun announced via his Twitter account last week that he “won’t write” during President Park Geun-hye’s presidency.

“I will not write a single piece of poetry in a country that’s led by Park Geun-hye, I swear,” he tweeted on July 4.

The 52-year-old served as the chairman of the joint election committee for Rep. Moon Jae-in, the Democratic United Party’s candidate for the 2012 presidential election. Ahn was one of some 30 literary figures who served as Moon’s “mentors” during the presidential campaign last year, along with popular author Gong Ji-young, poet Shin Kyong-rim and literary critic Do Jung-il.

While serving as chairman of the joint election committee in December, Ahn was indicted on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act.

He was charged for claiming on his Twitter account that Park, then the Saenuri Party candidate, was either secretly keeping missing writings by independent activist Ann Jung-geun (1879-1910) ― designated National Treasure No. 560-4 ― or was involved with a possible theft of the piece. The handwritten scripts were donated to Cheong Wa Dae in 1976, during the presidency of Park Chung-hee, Park’s late father, but their whereabouts are unknown. Poet Ahn’s trial begins on July 11.

Ahn made his debut in 1984 and has published a number of popular collections of poems, including “Lonely High and Solitary.” He currently teaches creative writing at Woosuk University in Wanju, North Jeolla Province.

By Claire Lee (dyc@heraldcorp.com)