The Korea Herald

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Korean author releases English fantasy novel

By 정주원

Published : Sept. 4, 2014 - 10:29

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A South Korean author recently released a historical fantasy novel written in English about a super heroine from 17th century Korea.

Written by Lee Jung-jin, a former professor of Seoul's Korea University, the novel, "Lady Bora from Diamond Mountain," was released on Aug. 1 by Amazon's CreateSpace on-demand publishing platform.

Lee, also known as Daisy Lee Yang, is the wife of Yang Sung-chul, a former lawmaker who served as the South Korean ambassador to the United States under the Kim Dae-jung administration from 2000 to 2003.

Set in the Joseon Dynasty, the story tells how a super heroine from Korea overcomes her misfortune and comes to the aid of her country in its direst moment of peril.

Endowed with supernatural powers, the woman named Lady Bora can fly thousands of kilometers in the blink of an eye, change her shape at will, see events taking place far away, predict the future, and call up the elements. With one stroke of her sword, she can kill thousands of enemy soldiers at once.

The author was born in Hamheung, North Korea, and came to the South with her parents right after the Korean Peninsula's liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945.

Lee obtained her college degree from the University of Hawaii.

She got married and moved to Kentucky where her husband and she studied, lived, and taught at several universities, including the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville. Moving back to Korea in 1987, she taught at several universities before retiring in l998.

The book is currently available at amazon.com. (Yonhap)