Jung Ji-woo, a Korea University (KU) alumnus from the department of Korean Language and Literature, was awarded the annual KU alumni ‘Proud College of Humanities Award’ in September, 2023. Both a published author and practicing attorney, Jung Ji-woo is also known for sharing short Instagram posts about his life, jobs, and lessons he has learnt throughout his career. The Granite Tower (GT) interviewed Jung Ji-woo to discuss his life as a writer and a lawyer, and his advice to KU students.

About Jung Ji-woo

In an interview with KU Insight, Jung revealed that he did not like to read much as a child. However, as he matured, he was fascinated by the world of writing and literature that could only be found in books; thus, his newfound interest in literature prompted him to pursue a degree in Korean. Since then, he has expanded his interest to the humanities and has written works such as Young Adult Humanities and Angry Society. While writing books about humanities that might help young adults live their lives, Jung expresses his interest in literature and philosophy using the words, “it was hard to get out of the sea of knowledge learned by mankind...that literature and philosophy can provide.”

Jung’s interest and love for literature and philosophy also appears in the process of writing. He goes beyond his interest in learning and tells various stories so that people, especially young adults, can apply those teachings to real life. Jung emphasized the problems that many young people in their 20s face, one of which being the difficulty of dealing with stressful relationships. At the same time, Jung admits the importance of being understanding toward the other person, underscoring the need to know oneself and being accepting of others. He is an author and lawyer who writes books to inspire youth based on those lessons.

Q. What role did KU play in your decision to pursue a life as both a writer and a lawyer?

I owe a lot to the school library, which had a great collection of books while I was in school. I remember one winter break, I borrowed dozens of books on “anger” from the central library, stacked them up, and read them to prepare for writing The Angry Society. It was no different when I was writing my other books. Even before I started writing, I had a great love for libraries. Library was a great source of comfort. I almost stayed in the library all day, checked out a lot of books, and felt like it was my other home.

On the one hand, studying in KU since they have a wide variety of liberal arts courses. I took many liberal arts courses because there were so many fascinating courses. At KU, I was able to take as many great lectures as I wanted in literature, philosophy, politics, sociology, and so on, and I took a lot of lectures. That really nourished me as a writer. Becoming a lawyer came quite a bit later, so I have more memories of school as a writer than as a lawyer

Q. Was there a time when your experience as a lawyer helped you in the process of writing your book, or when the humanities helped you in your work as a lawyer?

At first, literature and humanities seemed unhelpful in the process of learning law. However, after I became very familiar with law, and now that I am a lawyer, I feel that my studies and writing have helped me significantly. First and foremost, being a lawyer is about talking about people and writing about them, so a complex understanding of human behavior is sometimes very important, and you often need to explain a lot of different contexts when explaining a person’s behavior; thus, I often feel that my experience of studying human beings in depth through my humanities studies helps me when I’m arguing for a case.

While being a lawyer, you get to experience things that you would never have gotten to do if you were a writer. In particular, being a lawyer means hearing the despair of so many people. People get caught in crimes, lose their life savings, get divorced, and so on, and you meet them at the most crucial moments of their lives. You learn a lot about people and life by listening to their despair, working with them, and trying to solve their problems, and I think that naturally deepens your writing.

Q. What is the most challenging aspect of your life as a writer and lawyer, and what would you say to a KU student in a similarly challenging situation?

I think the most difficult thing about being a professional, whether it’s a writer or a lawyer, is that it’s all about responsibility. As a writer, when I write about a social phenomenon, an object, or a state of mind, I wonder if it’s going to have a negative effect on the world, or if it’s going to hurt someone. It’s important to me that I take responsibility for my words, and being a lawyer is no different, because every legal decision I make can change someone’s fate, so I take each step more carefully and with more difficulty. I think it’s a profession where you always have to look for the best, and you have to feel a heavy responsibility for that, because even if you do not always get the best outcome, it should not be your fault.

While encountering the difficulties of life, it is important to remember two main attitudes. First, do not avoid [the difficulties.] Often the problems you avoid turn out to be more bearable than you thought they would be. There have been many times when I have been overly fearful of something more than the actual thing. The second is to have the endurance to believe that it will pass, and as we persist in our path, we will realize that many of the things we felt had been problems that would one day be resolved.