Lee Ho-cheol, South Korean writer, Died at 84

Lee Ho-cheol was born on March 15, 1932, in Wonsan, Hamgyeongnam-do, North Korea and died on September 18, 2016.

He was a South Korean writer who has won several awards.

He lived through the tragedy of the ideological conflict in Korea.

Lee’s father refused to cooperate with Northern communists and his family had their property confiscated and were chased out of their hometown.

In the war, Lee Hocheol was drafted into the North Korean army and sent to the front in the South.

Eventually, he rejoined his family in his native town, but ultimately decided to move to South Korea by himself. A prolific writer as well as an activist, he participated in the democracy movement against the dictatorial regime of President Park Chung-hee and spent most of the 1970s in the prison.

During the 1980s, after the army general Chun Doo-hwan gained power through a coup d’etat, Ho-cheol continued to battle against military dictatorship despite government persecution and became actively involved in organizations such as the Association of Writers for Literature of Freedom and Practice (Jayu silcheon munin hyeobuihoe).

He made his debut in 1955 with the story Leaving Home and was known as a writer who directly confronted and described reality.

Lee’s early stories explored the emotional toll of the Korean War on individuals and illuminated the conflict between those who benefited from the war and those who were ruined by it

He died due to a brain tumor.

Lee Ho-cheol passed away at 84 years old.