People Who Left Their Mark on the World by Staying True to Themselves

Former Prime Minister Jeong Un-hyeon’s Secretary General <Live Your One and Only Life Your Way!> Published
Stories of 12 Principled Lives Including Kim Si-seup, Thoreau, Jang Il-soon, Im Jong-guk, Choi Myung-jae, and Others

The author says that since no one can live your life for you, you should live according to your own will to have no regrets. If you have regrets before you die, it means you have not lived well. While a life without regrets may be rare, the author selected 12 people from history across East and West and compiled their life stories. Perhaps it reads like the author's own declaration to live freely like them.

The book unfolds the journeys of living freely, such as Sakyamuni who gave up the throne to walk the path of a seeker, Kim Si-seup who chose the path of exile after Prince Suyang's usurpation of the throne, Yi Tak-o, a Ming dynasty thinker who did not blindly follow Confucian authority, Scott Nearing, an activist economist and practical ecologist, Im Jong-guk who studied pro-Japanese collaborators while farming at night, and farmer-writer Song Seong-young who lived a free life.

The author, Jeong Un-hyeon, former Chief Secretary to Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon, is a former journalist. He worked at JoongAng Ilbo and Daehan Maeil before serving as the founding editor-in-chief of OhmyNews. He has written several books related to pro-Japanese collaborators, including Pro-Japanese Collaborators Are Alive, and served as the secretary-general of the Pro-Japanese Collaborators Truth Commission, dedicating himself to uncovering the truth about pro-Japanese collaborators, making him an expert on the issue. During the last presidential primary, he was the public relations director for Lee Nak-yeon, the Democratic Party candidate, and during the presidential election, he supported Yoon Seok-youl, the People Power Party candidate.

Jeong emphasized, "You can love and marry two or three times, and you can change jobs multiple times. But life never gives you a second chance. Once you live it, that's it. So from now on, live the rest of your life according to your own will. That way, above all, you will have no regrets when you die."