[6] Jang claims to have been one of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's favored propaganda poets.
[7] This favoritism occurred after Jang wrote the epic poem Spring Rests on the Gun Barrel of the Lord as part of recurring competitive poetry writing among different North Korean Government departments.
[9] According to Jang's account, he was forced to flee the country for his life after his friend Hwang Young-Min lost a forbidden book from his department on the Pyongyang Metro.
[10][11] After a long period of hiding in China, Jang defected to South Korea in 2004 by reaching the embassy in Beijing; however, Young-min separated from him during their escape and while he was awaiting repatriation back to North Korea after being arrested by the Chinese police, Young-min committed suicide to avoid repatriation and retribution from the North Korean authorities for his escape.
[14] Jang Jin-sung wrote about his journey of defecting in his 2014 book, Dear Leader: Poet, Spy, Escapee - A Look Inside North Korea.