{
  "id": 2974221,
  "title": "Author Jo Jung-rae returns with love story, calls literature defense of humanity",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/24/author-jo-jung-rae-returns-with-love-story-calls-literature-defense-2974221",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-08-24T08:07:03.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Korea Times",
    "slug": "the-korea-times-koreatimes",
    "url": "https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/lifestyle/books/20260824/author-jo-jung-rae-returns-with-love-story-calls-literature-defense-of-humanity"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Novelist Jo Jung-rae, renowned for his sweeping epics chronicling Korea's modern history, has returned to the theme of romantic love in his fresh two-volume novel \"Seorikkot.\" During a press conference in Seoul, the 83-year-old author revealed that literature should preserve human imagination and emotions in an era increasingly influenced by artificial intelligence and smartphones. At 83, Jo Jung-rae declared his new work, possibly his last full-length novel, the first in his 56-year literary career to focus on love. He explained, \"I wanted to write a sad love story, but this is not a simple love story.\" This departure from his historical trilogy, including \"Taebaek Mountain Range\" (1989), \"Arirang\" (1994), and \"Hangang\" (2001), has sold over 15 million copies combined.",
  "summary": "Novelist Jo Jung-rae, best known for sweeping epics chronicling Korea’s modern history, has returned to romantic love in his new two-volume novel, “Seorikkot,” (frost flower in Korean). He said that literature must preserve human imagination and feeling in an age increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence (AI) and smartphones. At a press conference in Seoul, the 83-year-old author said his…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "The Korea Times",
        "title": "Author Jo Jung-rae returns with love story, calls literature defense of humanity",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/24/author-jo-jung-rae-returns-with-love-story-calls-literature-defense",
        "published": "2026-08-24T08:02:03.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}