An Su-kil was born in Hamgyŏng province (present day North Korea) in 1911 and lived in Manchuria between the ages of 11 and 15 until his family moved back to Hamhung after he graduated from Kandojungang (Central Kando) middle school in 1926. He then enrolled in Hamhung High School but dropped out in protest of student treatment and Japanese colonial education during the Maenghyu (맹휴) incident. He transferred to Kyŏngsin High School in Seoul in 1928 during his third year but was expelled in 1929 due to his involvement in the Gwangju Student Movement.
After high school, he started at Waseda University in 1931 but withdrew because he could not afford tuition and began working as an elementary school teacher and reporter in Gando (Jiando, Manchuria).
He started his career as a writer after his story “Director of Red Cross Hospital”「적십자병원장(赤十字病院長)」was selected for publication in the Choson 『조선문단(朝鮮文壇)』지 magazine. Throughout his career he published 20 novellas and 60 short stories. His work focused on themes of industrialization, the experiences of Korean settlers in Manchuria, and colonial persecution. He is best known for his series Bukgando (North Jiando), which spans the 80-year history of a Korean family from the end of the Joseon dynasty to the end of Japanese occupation. His work was evaluated as a Nobel Prize candidate of South Korea at the 37 th Seoul PEN Congress in 1970.
He passed away in 1977 at the age of 66.
For more information see:
- https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0034835
- https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/ci/sereArticleSearch/ciSereArtiView.kci?sereArticleSearchBean.artiId=ART002033776
- https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/ci/sereArticleSearch/ciSereArtiView.kci?sereArticleSearchBean.artiId=ART002797978
- http://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Contents/Item/E0034835
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