Former Statistics Korea Chief Publishes First Romance Novel - "Dancing with Aurora"
Key Highlights :
Chung Jae-ryong, a former head of Statistics Korea and a high-ranking economic bureaucrat, has recently made waves by publishing his first full-length romantic novel titled “Dancing with Aurora”. The 77-year-old author’s unique background and advanced age in making his debut as a romance novelist has drawn significant media attention.
Chung’s novel explores the themes of mature love and marriage in-depth, a topic that he has long been passionate about. He believes that Korea is still lagging behind other developed countries in terms of dating and marriage culture, and he hopes that his book will help to portray a more mature relationship between men and women.
The story follows a couple over the course of 40 years, with the backdrop spanning Korea, Japan, the U.S. and Europe. Chung’s previous experiences of living in Denmark and the U.S. for many years, as an economic cooperation official and a student, respectively, contributed to the development of the story. He said that seeing many couples in these countries leading their lives of love and marriage in an independent, respectful and rational way made him hopeful for a growth in Korea’s collective mindset and cultures surrounding gender and love relations.
Writing the novel was no easy task for Chung. It took him four years to complete the book, and during the early stages of organizing the plot, he was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver, which developed into cancer one and a half years later. Despite this, he was able to publish the book four years after he first started the project.
Chung has been awarded the Order of Service Merit for his excellent public service. He has also written two other books, “Management of Non-Performing Loans” and “International Standardization of Non-Performing Loan Resolution Systems”. He now hopes to publish his novel in the Japanese market, as Japanese novels occupy a large portion of the Korean bestseller lists.
Chung Jae-ryong’s “Dancing with Aurora” is an inspiring story of love and marriage that is sure to leave readers with a newfound appreciation for relationships between men and women. His unique background and advanced age in making his debut as a romance novelist has made the book an even more exceptional work of literature.
