YI CHONG-JUN (1939–2008) was one of the leading South Korean novelists in recent years. Many of his works have been adapted for cinema and television. Yi Chong-jun’s novel Seopyeonje – The Southerners' Song has attained a near-mythical status in South Korea, especially with the acclaimed and award-winning film of the novel breaking box-office records on its release in the 1990s. He died of lung cancer in 2008.