Korean kids' book recalled over 10-year-old's mom-eating poem

SEOUL, May 7 (UPI) -- A South Korean publisher is recalling copies of a book featuring morbid poetry written by children, including a 10-year-old's poem about eating her mother.

The poetry book, A Single Dog, was released March 30 by publisher Chulganil and soon drew criticism for the content of some of the poems, including a 10-year-old girl's poem about eating her mother that was accompanied with an illustration of a girl taking a bite out of a human heart while kneeling in a pool of blood near a body.

The poem, by a girl named Lee, is titled "On a Day You Don't Want to Go to Hakwon."

The poem reads:

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

So it's the most painful.

Kim Suk Boon, an official with the publishing company, initially defended the poetry book as "art" that the company chose not to modify, but the company later said the books would be recalled and destroyed after numerous complaints from parents.

"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 company announced.

Lee's poem is not the only entry in the book to include acts of matricide -- A Single Dog also contains a poem called "The Cannibal Doll," about a child whose mother is eaten by a knife-wielding doll.