May 18 Democratic Cemetery Selects Late Novelist Lee Ho-cheol, a Leading Figure in Division Literature, as September Merit Recipient

September's Democratic Merit Recipient of May 18, the late Hocheol Lee poster.

The National May 18 Democratic Cemetery Management Office announced on September 5 that it has selected the late Lee Ho-cheol as the May 18 Democratic Merit Recipient of the Month for September.

The late Lee Ho-cheol, a recipient of the May 18 Democratic Merit, was born on March 15, 1932, in Wonsan, Hamgyeong Province. He was conscripted into the North Korean People's Army but defected to the South during the January-Fourth Retreat. Afterward, he made his literary debut with "Talhyang" and established himself as a leading novelist in the field of division literature. He led the anti-Yushin petition and was imprisoned in 1974 as part of the so-called Literary Figures' Espionage Incident. In 1980, he was incarcerated again after being implicated in the Kim Dae-jung Rebellion Conspiracy Case.

An official from the National May 18 Democratic Cemetery Management Office stated, "The late Lee Ho-cheol, the May 18 Democratic Merit Recipient of the Month, rests in Section 9, Plot 29 of the First Cemetery. As an open national cemetery, we will continue our efforts to honor and remember those who sacrificed for democracy."