Sim Hun

Shim Daeseop (; 12 September 1901 – 16 September 1936), more commonly known by his art name Shim Hun (also spelled Sim Hun or Sim Hoon ), was a Korean novelist, poet, and playwright.

Biography Shim 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 Shim Sang-jeong and his mother came from another notable Yangban family Yun (her father was a celebrated calligrapher). Shim Hun was the youngest of three sons and had one sister. He entered the Gyeongseong Ordinary School (, 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. In 1935 he won an award for his most famous novel Sangnoksu; he used the prize money to create the Sangrok Academy. Sim is credited for the Sangrok (Evergreen Tree) movement which encouraged young, educated people to move to the countryside to educate and organize rural populace, and awaken them from their oppression (e.g., Japanese colonial rule, traditional landed gentry class). He died in 1936 of typhoid fever without seeing his country's independence that came in 1945.

Sim's last work was a poem "Joseonui Nama" or "Chosun's Son" which he wrote after learning that the Korean marathon runner Sohn Kee-chung won the gold medal for Marathon at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. As a colonial subject, Song was forced to run wearing the Japanese flag. Sim wrote the poem on the copy of the Special Bulletin that announced Sohn's victory.

Kunari Omyeon was published in 1949 since the original volume was censored and banned by the Japanese colonial government. A seven-volume series of his books, Sim Hun's Books, came out in 1952 and a three-volume series, Shim Hun's Complete Works, was republished in 1996.

Legacy Shim Hun's high school issued an honorary graduation diploma in his name in 2005. His third son Shim Jae-Ho, who lives in Virginia, United States, holds the original manuscripts of many of his works; he lent them out to be displayed in Dangjin in 2010. In 2011, the Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation commemorated Shim Hun in its series of Medals of Korean Historical Figures; Shim was one of 100 notable historical figures to be so recognized.

Pilgyeongsa In 1932, Shim Hun designed and built his house Pilgyeongsa in Dangjin, Chungcheongnam-do, where he wrote most of his major works and his children were born. Today, it is designated as a historical site preserved and managed by the Chungcheongnam-do Provincial Government. In addition, there is a Shim Hun Memorial adjacent to Pilgyeongsa; the government is planning to build a new, expanded memorial.