Background
Cho Hae-il was born April 18, 1941 in Manchukuo and was originally given the name Haeryong, which means "Sea Dragon".
Cho Hae-il was born April 18, 1941 in Manchukuo and was originally given the name Haeryong, which means "Sea Dragon".
After the liberation of of Korea his family returned to Seoul, and five years later the Korean War began. During the war his family joined the stream of refugees who retreated to Busan, only returning so Seoul in 1954 after the cessation of hostilities. At this school he entered the creative writing club
In 1961 he entered Kyunghee University, where he majored in Korean literature and met Hwang Sunwon, one of the greatest senior writers in of Korea.
Graduating in 1966, he served his mandatory military service in various roles. Upon his discharge from the service, he begins writing.
When his writing career began to wind down in the late 80s, Cho moved to teaching creative writing at Kyunghee University.