[Power K-Women] "It's Only Natural as a Member of the Community... Doing My Best for What I Believe In"

Active as SF writer, translator, public interest lawyer, and social entrepreneur
Focused on relationships between people and structural discrimination

Editor's NoteAsia Economy plans to announce women who are active in various fields both domestically and internationally as 'Power K-Women' through the ‘2023 Women Leaders Forum’ to be held on October 24th at Lotte Hotel in Sogong-dong, Seoul. These women are leaders who have broken or transcended barriers such as gender, race, disability, and poverty to create new and universal values. Their stories will provide comfort to a weary world, serve as role models for others, and empower communities to move forward. We select and introduce candidates for Power K-Women every week who have stood up against discrimination without shrinking back or being confined by boundaries.

The science fiction (SF) novel Uju-ryu (2005) tells the story of a protagonist who dreamed of becoming an astronaut from childhood and the experiences she goes through until she turns 40. The author, So-yeon Jeong, lead attorney at Boda Law Office (40), said, “When I wrote the novel, that age felt very distant. I thought there would be some big turning point like in the novel, but in reality, I just aged one year at a time as usual, and I feel it will continue like this.”

The ultimate destination of all activities is always 'people'

Although she says there was no turning point, over the past 20 years, various titles such as SF writer, translator, public interest lawyer, and public interest entrepreneur have followed her. While traversing different fields, the ultimate destination of all her activities has always been ‘people.’

Attorney Jeong spent her childhood in Masan, Gyeongnam. Her original dream was to become an astronomer. She had a vague admiration for the vast universe and wandered bookstores to read popular science books. While majoring in social welfare and philosophy at university, she took on translating SF novels. The more she translated, the more she wanted to tell her own stories. She debuted as a writer by winning an honorable mention at the 2nd Science and Technology Creative Literary Contest in 2005 with Uju-ryu, a webtoon adaptation of her anonymously posted online story by a webtoon artist. The following year, she received an honorable mention at the Seoul National University College Literary Award for her novel Masan Front Sea. In February this year, the Japanese edition of How to Save Myself from the Villains of the World, a collection of columns, essays, and interpretations she wrote for various publications, was released. Attorney Jeong will travel to Tokyo next month to meet Japanese readers.

When asked where the material for her SF novels comes from, she explained, “Before scientific knowledge, I first think about the ‘relationships’ between people. I get inspiration when I discover something that does not change even when influenced by others.” She added, “I reflect on how to escape uncomfortable situations (with someone) and what I wanted to do but couldn’t. Even within families, there is love, conflict, and sacrifice.” Once she determines the central relationship, she applies the setting that best realizes it. Thus, stories of mothers and daughters, older and younger sisters, and partners with and without disabilities are embedded in her SF novels.

The background for her focus on ‘human relationships’ lies in the structural discrimination she has personally experienced. Attorney Jeong said, “Living as a woman in Korean society, you inevitably realize that no matter how well you do, there is something you cannot overcome.” As a middle school student watching half of the girls in her class go to a girls’ commercial high school regardless of grades, she questioned, “Why do women have to easily do housework even if they are capable?”

Attorney So-yeon Jeong, CEO of the law firm "Boda," who is also an SF novelist and translator. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

Her experience of ‘ostracism’ after transferring to a metropolitan high school was also a factor that shaped the current Attorney Jeong. Classmates resented the provincial transfer student who immediately ranked first in the school upon transfer. “I cried every day, telling myself I did nothing wrong. But after months of no one greeting me in the classroom, one day a friend said, ‘So-yeon, hello.’ I was so grateful that I cried again. That greeting gave me the strength to live for a long time.”

Contemplating work that directly touches people's lives led to law school

Moved by such experiences, she wanted to contribute to society through ‘people.’ She felt a responsibility to do ‘something’ for others who might be in similar situations as she was. Beyond writing, she considered work that directly impacts people’s lives. That led her to law school.

She passed the first bar exam in 2012 and began ‘public interest law.’ She opened a law office named Boda, which is easy for foreigners to pronounce. She has worked as a public commissioner at the Regional Labor Relations Commission and as a lawyer for the civic group Workplace Bullying 119, listening to the ‘voices of the marginalized’ from all walks of life.

Attorney Jeong said, “Victims are not always right in every aspect. People are inherently multifaceted, make mistakes, and are confused. However, through their stories, there is a form of justice that can be realized from one perspective. I believe that these forms of justice collectively create the direction in which our society progresses.” She added, “What an individual can do is very small, but if you live as a member of a community, you should participate as much as you can. You have to keep testing how far you can go.” She emphasized, “No one can always be brave and keep raising their voice in front of others. I believe such heroes should not exist. Many people should raise their voices a little when they can, and when they are overwhelmed and step back, others should take their place.”

Since 2017, through the scholarship project ‘Boda Initiative,’ she has supported the education of poor foreign girls. During a university invitation lecture in Cambodia, she learned about rural female students who could not attend university due to poor conditions. They were pressured into ‘marriage and childbirth’ at a young age. “Not all choices are ‘real choices.’ Choices are limited, and the more difficult the situation, the narrower the range of options. I thought if I could just pull them a little, they could see a wider world. So I said, ‘Then I will send you (to university).’ Starting with enrolling four scholarship students in Cambodia, she has supported dozens of girls’ university admissions in Vietnam, Nepal, and other countries. The scholarship project is entirely funded by Attorney Jeong’s own money. She also sent many English books purchased from Korean used bookstores to local libraries lacking books.

She said, “I think I meet the current me this way because I have not let go of what I believed in and devoted myself to in the past.” “Last year, at an event of the Korean Migrant Women’s Human Rights Center where I serve as a committee member, a foreigner approached me saying, ‘Aren’t you the teacher?’ It was someone I met while volunteering as a Korean language teacher during law school. That volunteer work was also done with the thought of doing what I could, but looking back, I am living a life I never imagined in my twenties.”

When asked to say a word to her past self or women in their twenties now, Attorney Jeong said, “Because you don’t know how to live, do your best in what you believe in now!”

▶Attorney So-yeon Jeong

Born in 1983, Attorney Jeong majored in social welfare and philosophy at Seoul National University. She debuted as an SF writer through the comic Uju-ryu, for which she wrote the story, in 2005. Her works have been published in SF short story collections such as Searching for Lost Concepts, Loneliness of a Million Light Years, and Dad’s Space Travel. She has written Asking in the Unknown and Answering at the Boundary (co-authored), Ms. Young-hee Next Door, Moving, and How to Save Myself from the Villains of the World. She passed the first bar exam in 2012 and opened Boda Law Office the same year.