Kim Seong-han was born in Pungsan, South Hamgyong Province in 1919. He studied law at Tokyo Imperial University before returning to Korea after the liberation. In the early 1960s, he studied history at the University of Manchester, UK. Kim made his literary debut in 1950 when his short story “Mumyeongno” (무명로 Lightless Road) won the Seoul Shinmun New Writer’s Contest. Kim went on to become one of Korea's representative writers of the 1950s, winning the first Dongin Literary Award for his novel Babido (바비도 Badby) in 1956, and the Asia Freedom Literary Award for his short story "Obungan" (오분간 In Five Minutes) in 1968. Until 1981, Kim continued to write while pursuing a career in journalism, as a writer then editor-in-chief of the Dong-A Ilbo. In his later years he devoted himself to historical fiction, publishing such epics as Wanggeon (왕건 Taejo of Goryeo), Imjinwaeran (임진왜란 The Imjin War), and Jinsihwangje (진시황제 Qin Shi Huang).
2. Writing
Kim's work paints an unflinchingly grim portrait of the nadir of human society. In Kim's world, contrary to popular belief, the good suffer while the evil benefit. This perfectly mirrors the confusion of Korean society in the aftermath of the Korean War. Kim employs satire and fable in his description of such ironic situations. His use of satire, in particular, exposes the realities of 1950s Korean society in detail, reflecting the author's critical stance of society at the time. Kim is also known for his use of Christian motifs in his work. "Obungan" is inspired by the Greek myth of Prometheus, while Babido takes aim at the corrupt politics and religious affairs at the time of the Lollard movement in England. Kim writes not for entertainment, but to draw attention to the injustice of the world through his vision of extreme depravity. His work tends to the nihilistic, featuring protagonists who fail to rise above the corruption of the world and choose death instead. This tendency is sometimes attributed to Kim's preoccupation with questions of morality and justice in his work, to the detriment of more fully developed characterization.
LTI Korea 
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SIWF 