There are two measures for evaluating a person's life: what they have achieved in the world and how they have understood and loved it. The former represents a history of success, while the latter signifies a history of maturity. Success is recorded through titles and accomplishments, but maturity is remembered through the spirit and culture a person leaves behind. Moreover, when someone rediscovers their youthful dreams in the latter part of life and transforms them into a new realm of creation, we can read that life not merely as a success story but as a beautiful study of humanity.
Reflecting on the life of Joo Kwang-il (朱光逸), who served as the Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office, brings these thoughts to mind. He pursued law and justice as a prosecutor and has explored the human psyche through poetry and literature after leaving public office. Once known as the 'Razor Blade Prosecutor' for his sharp investigations and meticulous work, he now sings of spring flowers, winter solitude, and the longing for departed friends.
The Literary Journey of Joo Kwang-il and Lee O-young
One cannot discuss Joo Kwang-il's literary life without mentioning Lee O-young, a prominent intellectual in Korea. Joo was a student of Lee at Kyunggi High School, where he learned literature. Lee, who taught poetry and novels, recognized his student's literary talent and encouraged him to pursue Korean literature. However, Joo chose to study law. Years later, he rose to a high position in the prosecution and returned to the world of poetry that his mentor had first discovered.
This is a beautiful cycle of life.
Joo Kwang-il's story is not merely about a lawyer becoming a poet. It is about the seed of literature sown in a young man that endured for over half a century and finally blossomed. The person who planted that seed was Lee O-young.
The Bond Between Lee O-young and the Literary Youth of Kyunggi High School
Joo Kwang-il's literary beginnings trace back to the literary club during his time at Kyunggi High School. At that time, Lee O-young, a Korean language teacher, opened the world of literary imagination and language to young students. Joo was one of them.
Lee O-young was an early literary critic who raised new issues in the Korean literary scene. He viewed literature not merely as a technique for crafting beautiful sentences but as an intellectual adventure that discovers the world anew. Learning literature from such a mentor likely left an indelible mark on Joo's life.
Lee encouraged Joo to study Korean literature. However, Joo chose to attend Seoul National University’s law school. Despite taking a different path from his mentor's advice, their connection remained unbroken.
A beautiful anecdote illustrates this bond.
In the autumn of 1959, about a year after Lee and his wife married, they invited young Joo Kwang-il to the Shinshin Arcade restaurant in Seoul. They treated him to a Western-style meal, which was uncommon at the time. This was a special experience for Joo and a warm expression of encouragement from his mentor.
Some meals are unforgettable not because of the food but because of the hearts of those who shared them.
The meal at Shinshin Arcade was not just a meal; it was an expression of love from a teacher who continued to support his student's life.
This anecdote makes me reflect on the essence of education. A true mentor does not force a student to live according to their wishes. They believe in their student's potential, regardless of the path chosen, and warmly welcome them back when they find their way.
Lee O-young and Joo Kwang-il's relationship exemplified this.
The Reason Behind Lee O-young's Four Calls from His Sickbed
The bond between the two deepened over more than half a century. In February 2021, while bedridden, Lee O-young reportedly called Joo Kwang-il four times to urge him to publish his poetry collection, Postcards from the Type of Place. Even in poor health, he encouraged his student to publish his book.
In the preface of the collection, Lee compared Joo's literary return to a salmon returning to its birthplace. He observed how Joo, who had lived as a lawyer, returned to the world of poetry. Lee also noted that Joo had transformed the sword and legal texts he had held for so long into the world of poetry and brushes.
This metaphor contains Lee's unique literary insight.
Salmon swim through vast oceans before returning to the rivers where they were born. The journey back is never easy; they must swim against strong currents and overcome numerous obstacles. However, this return is not merely a regression; it is a cycle of life and a completion for new life.
For Joo Kwang-il, literature was likely such a birthplace.
The boy who learned literature at Kyunggi High School became a lawyer and navigated the tumultuous waters of modern Korean history. He rose to a high position in the prosecution and served in public office. Then, in the latter part of his life, he returned to the river of poetry.
Lee recognized that return. It was a moment when the literary talent his mentor had discovered in his youth shone brightly again after many years.
The fact that the young mentor who treated his student to a Western meal at Shinshin Arcade decades ago encouraged the publication of his poetry collection from his sickbed feels like a piece of literature itself.
Education does not end in the classroom. True education is completed over a lifetime.
The Path of Law and Justice Taken by the 'Razor Blade Prosecutor'
Joo Kwang-il was born in 1943 in Incheon. He graduated from Kyunggi High School and Seoul National University’s law school, passing the 5th Judicial Examination in 1965. He later earned a doctorate in law from Seoul National University.
He served as the head of the Inspection Division at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, Director of the Legal Affairs Bureau at the Ministry of Justice, Chief Prosecutor of Incheon District Prosecutors' Office, and Chief Prosecutor of Daejeon High Prosecutors' Office before becoming Chief Prosecutor of Seoul High Prosecutors' Office in 1997. He earned the nickname 'Razor Blade Prosecutor' for his strict and meticulous work.
After the October 26 incident in 1979, he was dispatched to the Joint Investigation Headquarters to participate in the investigation of Kim Jae-kyu. During his tenure as Chief Prosecutor of Incheon District, he handled significant cases, including the Incheon North District Office tax embezzlement case and the court bailiff corruption case.
The path he walked as a prosecutor overlaps with the tumultuous periods of modern Korean history. The role of a prosecutor has always been intertwined with the tension between power and justice amid the complex historical processes of authoritarian state power, the advancement of democratization, and the establishment of the rule of law.
A prosecutor exercises the state's punitive power. Therefore, the virtues required of a prosecutor go beyond mere investigative ability. They must possess the courage to uphold the law in the face of power, the prudence to avoid creating innocent victims, and the sensitivity to recognize the living human beings behind legal texts.
In Eastern legal thought, the strictness of law and consideration for humanity have long been subjects of debate. While Han Feizi emphasized the objectivity of law and systems, Confucius placed virtue and propriety at the core of politics. Although these two philosophies start from different points, they share the question of how to control the arbitrariness of power and maintain community order.
Joo Kwang-il was appointed as the 4th Chairperson of the National Ombudsman Commission shortly after the inauguration of the Kim Dae-jung government in 1998. He transitioned from a prosecutor investigating crimes to a public official addressing the grievances and hardships of the people.
Of course, this experience alone cannot evaluate all his public service activities. However, it is clear that it represented a shift in thinking about where the authority of law intersects with the lives of the people.
When the law reigns over the people, it becomes power, but when it alleviates the people's suffering, it approaches justice.
Reflections on Joo Kwang-il's Poetry and Political Reality
One notable work in Joo Kwang-il's literary career is his poetry collection, Postcards from the Type of Place, published in 2021. This collection does not solely sing of personal love and longing; it also reflects on the political realities and social contradictions of South Korea through the poet's language.
Postcards from the Type of Place
Published in 2021 by Hangang Publishing, this poetry collection reflects on freedom, the rule of law, and the absurdities of reality, receiving recommendations and literary evaluations from Lee O-young. In 2023, a Japanese translation was also published.
The term 'type of place' originally refers to a space where individuals deprived of freedom are forcibly sent. However, the 'type of place' referred to by the poet is not merely a place of exile. It symbolizes a reality where individuals experience mental oppression and alienation in a society where they should be able to think and speak freely.
Poet Heo Hyung-man noted in his commentary on this collection that Joo Kwang-il finds the value of existence in the public square and expresses the realities of an uncertain era through symbols and allegories. The poet compares his homeland to a 'type of place' and sings of the intellectual's anguish and hope living within it.
In this context, we discover another facet of the poet who was once a prosecutor.
As a lawyer, he understood freedom and justice through legal texts. However, as a poet, he questions how faithfully those values are realized in reality through the language of literature.
In a democratic nation, the people should be the masters of power. Political power merely exercises authority delegated by the people. Yet, in reality, power sometimes seeks to dominate the people, political interests overshadow the spirit of the law, and partisan logic obscures truth and justice.
This is why Joo Kwang-il's poetry can be read in connection with today's political reality. His poetic consciousness extends beyond one-time criticism of specific regimes or political forces to universal questions of power and freedom, the rule of law, and human dignity.
Political satire is not merely mockery. True satire is a literary conscience that awakens principles forgotten by society. It does not stop at criticizing those in power but asks what power should exist for.
The historical satire embedded in his works is worth reading for this reason.
I am reminded of Hannah Arendt's political philosophy. A crucial issue raised by Arendt in Eichmann in Jerusalem is what tragedies can occur when humans abandon their ability to think and judge for themselves.
The rule of law is not completed merely by the formality of laws. It requires the independent judgment of those who enforce the law, critical thinking from citizens, and oversight of power.
If prosecutor Joo Kwang-il dedicated his professional life to upholding the order of law, poet Joo Kwang-il is now questioning the freedoms and human dignity that the law should protect through the language of literature.
From Young Love to Seasonal Literature
Joo Kwang-il's literary activities did not suddenly begin in his old age. While serving as the Deputy Chief Prosecutor of Daejeon High Prosecutors' Office in 1992, he published a poetry collection titled The Sound of Bells in the Evening Glow. This work compiled 60 love poems he wrote during his time at Kyunggi High School and Seoul National University.
The fact that a mid-level prosecutor published poems from his youth is significant. It demonstrates that he did not lose the sensitivity of a literary youth even within the strict profession of law.
In 1994, while serving as the Director of the Legal Affairs Bureau at the Ministry of Justice, he also published Legal Considerations of the UR Agreement, a legal treatise analyzing changes in international trade order. This showcases his intellectual journey exploring both the legal and literary realms.
Following Postcards from the Type of Place, he recently published Winter Postcards and Spring Postcards. The latter contains 70 poems written in the spring of 2026, reflecting on the beauty of spring, the preciousness of everyday life, longing for departed friends, concerns about freedom and justice, and a prayer to not lose hope amid the pains of the era.
He plans to complete a seasonal literary series with Summer Postcards and Autumn Postcards.
Just as Vivaldi depicted the seasons through music, Joo Kwang-il paints the seasons through poetry.
Spring symbolizes the beginning of new life, summer represents growth and passion, autumn signifies maturity and fruition, and winter is a time for solitude and reflection. These four seasons represent both the cycle of nature and the human life journey.
However, there is a special season in life that differs from the natural seasons. It is a season where the body ages, but the spirit rejuvenates. Experience deepens, desires diminish, and the understanding of the world broadens.
Perhaps Joo Kwang-il is currently living in such a spring of the spirit.
Beyond Confucius' Concept of the Heart, Towards the Path of Eighty Returning to Truth and Ninety Without Self
Confucius, in the Analects, reflects on his life, stating that by the age of seventy, he could follow his heart's desires without transgressing the law. This is the state of zhongxin suoyu bu yu ju (following the heart's desires without exceeding the bounds).
The state Confucius described at seventy is not mere indulgence. It is a state where desire and morality naturally align through a lifetime of cultivation. It is a mature freedom that allows one to do what they want while remaining within the bounds of human duty and community order.
I would like to expand this Confucian philosophy of life to fit the modern century of a hundred years.
Seventy Following the Heart, Eighty Returning to Truth, Ninety Without Self, One Hundred Harmonizing with Heaven
While the concept of seventy following the heart comes from Confucius, the ideas of eighty returning to truth, ninety without self, and one hundred harmonizing with heaven are modern philosophical additions I propose while contemplating a century-long life. The age divisions mentioned in the classics are not literal.
At seventy, one gains the freedom to live as they desire without exceeding moral bounds. At eighty, one returns to the original state of life. I would like to call this state returning to truth. At ninety, one advances to a state of selflessness, letting go of attachment to personal achievements, honors, and works. Finally, at one hundred, one dreams of a state of harmonizing with the order of life in nature, humanity, and the universe.
Joo Kwang-il, born in 1943, is now eighty-three years old. He is living in the season of eighty returning to truth.
What Does Returning to Truth Mean for Him?
Could it be returning to the literary youth he once was, learning from Lee O-young? It is not about denying or abandoning his illustrious career as a lawyer but rather integrating all those experiences into his original dream of literature.
The experiences of rising to a high position in the prosecution, addressing the grievances of the people, and living through the tumultuous periods of modern Korean history can all serve as material for poetry.
Returning to truth does not mean withdrawing from the world. Instead, it is a time of creativity, reorganizing worldly experiences within oneself and sharing them with others.
Upon reaching ninety without self, one takes another step forward. It is a state of giving back the wisdom gained to society and future generations, free from the thoughts of personal achievements, honors, and works.
At one hundred harmonizing with heaven, one deeply realizes that humanity is part of nature. It is an understanding that humanity, culture, and nature do not exist in opposition but coexist within a cosmic order of life.
I hope Joo Kwang-il continues to write poetry healthily for many years, following this spiritual journey. I look forward to him singing of deeper human love at ninety and celebrating the harmony of nature and the universe as a poet at one hundred.
If the legal knowledge, social experiences, and literary sensibilities he has accumulated throughout his life bear fruit as wisdom in new works, it will become a cultural asset for our society beyond personal achievement.
Humanity, Culture, Nature: A Beautiful Return of a Lawyer
Our society has long been accustomed to evaluating a person's worth based on titles and positions. We measure success by which university one attended, what position one attained, and how much power one wielded.
However, a person's life is not completed through professional success.
What do they learn after leaving public office? What spirit do they share with the younger generation? How do they view nature and what do they leave in culture? These questions often reveal a person's true value.
The most beautiful aspect of Joo Kwang-il's life is that he does not deny his career as a prosecutor while not being confined by it.
While being a prosecutor was his profession, poetry became another identity for him. Law was an important way for him to relate to the world, and literature became a pathway to deepen and broaden that relationship.
When we place his poetry collections side by side, we see a life story. The Sound of Bells in the Evening Glow contains the love of youth, Postcards from the Type of Place reflects the intellectual's anguish toward freedom and the rule of law, and Winter Postcards and Spring Postcards capture the longing and hope of someone who has traversed time.
At the heart of this entire literary journey is Lee O-young.
He was the mentor who taught poetry and novels in the classroom at Kyunggi High School, the one who treated young Joo Kwang-il to a Western meal at Shinshin Arcade, and the one who encouraged the publication of his student's poetry collection from his sickbed in his final years.
Lee O-young has now passed away, but the seeds of literature he planted continue to grow in Joo Kwang-il's poetry.
The greatest legacy a mentor can leave to a student is not the quantity of knowledge but the enduring spark of spirit throughout a lifetime.
We consider human maturity within three relationships: how deeply we understand humanity, how richly we cultivate culture, and how harmoniously we live with nature.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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