Choe Jeong-hui (1912–1990) was one of the most successful early women writers in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

Life

Choe Jeong-hui was born in Dancheon,

South Hamgyong Province South Hamgyong Province (, ''Hamgyŏngnamdo''; ) is a province of North Korea. The province was formed in 1896 from the southern half of the former Hamgyong Province, remained a province of Korea until 1945, then became a province of North Kor ...

and was educated in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

. She worked at a

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

and as a journalist in Seoul before starting her writing career in 1931; she worked for the magazine '' Samcheolli'' (삼천리) and the newspaper ''

The Chosun Ilbo ''The Chosun Ilbo'' (, ), also known as ''The Chosun Daily,'' is a Korean-language newspaper of record for South Korea and among the oldest active newspapers in the country. With a daily circulation of more than 1,800,000, ''The'' ''Chosun Ilbo ...

'' (조선일보). She was associated with the Korean Artists' Proletarian Federation, and was jailed in 1934 as a result. Her daughters,

Kim Ji-won Kim Ji-won (; born October 19, 1992) is a South Korean actress. She gained recognition through her roles in Korean drama, television series ''The Heirs'' (2013) and ''Descendants of the Sun'' (2016), before taking on leading roles in ''Fight f ...

and

Kim Chae-won Kim Chaewon (; born August 1, 2000) is a South Korean singer. She is the leader of South Korean girl group Le Sserafim and a former member of the girl group Iz*One, having finished tenth in the reality competition series ''Produce 48'' in 2018 ...

, were also successful writers. She first married filmmaker Kim Yu-yeong in 1930, but they divorced a year later when she met her second husband, Kim Dong-hwan, in 1931 while working for ''Samcheolli''.

Selected works

* ''Earthly Ties'' (지맥), novella * ''Human Ties'' (인맥), novella * ''Heavenly Ties'' (천맥), novella

References

1912 births 1990 deaths South Korean journalists South Korean women novelists South Korean women journalists South Korean novelists People from Tanchon Writers from Seoul 20th-century journalists South Korean people of North Korean origin Jeong-hui {{Korea-writer-stub