Sim Hun
Sim Daeseop (12 December 1901 – 16 December 1936), more commonly known by his pen name Sim Hun (also spelled Shim Hum), was a Korean novelist, poet, playwright and patriot.
Life and career
Sim Hun was born in Seoul in 1901 to an old Yangban family which for centuries held high government positions and served the royal court as ministers. His father is Sim Sang-jeong and his mother came from another notable Yangban family Yun (her father was a celebrated calligrapher). Sim was the youngest of three sons and had one sister. He entered the Gyeongseong Ordinary School (경성보통학교, now Gyeonggi High School) in 1915, but due to his participation in the March 1st Movement protests against Japanese rule in Korea in 1919, was arrested and expelled. When he was in prison, Sim wrote his famous impassioned letter to his mother vowing to fight for the freedom of his country ("the Greater Mother") from Japanese rule. Imprisoned for eight months, he went into exile in Hangzhou, China where he attended the Zhejiang University, returning to Korea in 1923.