Shin Chae-ho (1880–1936) was a Korean independence activist, historian, journalist, and writer.  Life   Shin Chae-ho, pen name Dan-jae, studied Chinese classics but gave up plans to pursue a government position when Korea lost its national sovereignty. He then started writing opinion columns in the Hwangseong Sinmun. Afterwards, he worked as chief editor of the Korea Daily News, always trying to instill national consciousness. He also engaged in the patriotic enlightenment movement through Sinminhoe, an independence movement organization. In 1910, Shin went into exile in China, and in 1922, he was invited to Shanghai by the head of Uiyeoldan, a group of patriotic Koreans. Early the next year, he composed the group’s manifesto, Joseon hyeongmyeong seoneon (조선혁명선언 Declaration of the Joseon Revolution), in which he insisted on the necessity of a direct revolutionary fight by the people through violent action. Shin's view on the independence movement, which did not allow any compromise with the enemy, also influenced his view of history. He understood history as a “fight between the self and non-self,” thereby establishing a theory of nationalistic history. Among his works are Joseon sanggosa (조선상고사 Joseon’s Ancient History), Joseon sanggo munhwasa (조선상고문화사 Joseon’s Ancient Cultural History), and Joseonsa yeongucho (조선사연구초 The Basics of Research on the History of Joseon); biographies of historical heroes such Eulji Mundeok and Yi Sun-sin; and the fantastical Kkumhaneul (꿈하늘 Dream Sky) and Yonggwa yongui daegyeokjeon (용과 용의 대격전 The Battle of Dragon with Dragon). Writing The patriotic enlightenment movement in Korea in the 1900s was based on the belief that the people, faced with the crisis of losing the country, had to grow competence and power. Writing historical biographical stories of extraordinary heroes with lofty personalities and patriotism was seen as an extension of activism that aimed at enlightening the people and inspiring their patriotic passions. Shin presented characters who save their country at crisis, translating Itaeri geonguk samgeoljeon (이태리건국삼걸전 The Biography of the Three Founding Heroes of Italy) and writing biographies of Eulji Mundeok, Yi Sun-sin, and Choe Dotong. After Japan took Korea's sovereignty, Shin turned to writing works of fiction that emphasize nationalism and the will to achieve independence through fantastic narratives. Dream Sky, written in 1916, is an adventure story of the main character Hannom. In the story, his left body and right body start to fight, and then he meets the historical figure Eulji Mundeok, before he participates in a fight against a monster, which symbolizes the Koreans' fight against the foreign powers. What stands out is its fantastic elements, such as his body dividing into two parts, making six doppelgangers of himself, and visiting Hell.  In the 1920s, Shin moved to China to concentrate on the independence movement, while writing history books. During this period, he detached himself from uncompromising nationalism and his definition of history as the struggle between the self and non-self, transforming himself into an anarchist. Departing from denouncing the invading countries or defending his people, he criticized human history itself, as it had been developed with the law of the jungle in favor of those in power, and put emphasis on freedom, equality, and armed revolution, standing with the oppressed. Yonggwa yongui daegyeokjeon is an allegorical story about revolution, which was written to spread anarchism. Similarly to Dream Sky, it is driven by fantasy. Miri, an imaginary creature of the East, and Dragon, its Western equivalent appear to fight each other. While Miri is depicted as the dictator who continues to oppress the people, Dragon realizes the revolution of the people on the earth. Through the victory of the latter, the story criticizes the current political system enabling the oppression of the people and strongly hopes for an ideal one, not just comparing the East and the West and spurring conflict between them.

Choe Chung-Hui (崔貞熙, 1912–1990) was a Korean writer. Along with Kang Kyeong-ae[1] and Ji Ha-ryun[2], she is categorized as the second generation group of women writers in the history of the modern Korean literature. Since her debut in 1931 with the publication of her short story "Jeongdanghan seupai (정당한 스파이, The Righteous Spy)" in the magazine Samcheolli, She had continued to write for no less than half a century as one of the most prominent women writers of the country, until her last work "Hwatugi (화투기, Story of Playing Hwatu)" came out in 1980 in the literary journal Hyundae Munhak. The source of her writing, which views the world from the perspective of a woman, is her consciousness as a woman, and her major work is the Maek triology, "Jimaek (지맥, The Energy of Land)," "Inmaek (The Energy of People)," and "Cheonmaek (천맥, The Energy of Sky)," published in 1939, 1940, and 1941, respectively. She won the Seoul Special City Culture Awards (서울특별시문화상), the Literature Award for Best Woman Writer (여류문학상), and the National Academy of Arts Award for Best Literary Work (대한민국예술원 문학부문 작품상).

Na Hye-seok (28 April 1896 – 10 December 1948) was a Korean feminist, poet, writer, painter, educator, and journalist. Life   Na Hye-seok was born in 1896 in Suwon to a wealthy family. Her pen name was Jeongwol. After her graduation from Jinmyeong Girls' High School in 1913, Na majored in Western oil painting at Tokyo Arts College.  In 1919, Na participated in the March 1st Movement against Japanese rule. She was jailed for this, and the lawyer hired by her family to represent her soon became her husband. The following year, Na became one of the founding members of the literary magazine Pyeheo. Her poems Sa (사, Sand) and Naenmul (냇물 Stream) appeared in Pyeheo in 1921. Throughout the early 1920s, Na also contributed a series of articles to the first magazine for Korean women, Sinyeoja, on the subject of women's dress reform. In 1927 Na Hye-sok and her husband went on a three-year tour of Europe. While in Paris, she was rumored to have had an affair with Cheondoism leader Choi Rin, and her husband divorced her on grounds of infidelity in 1931. It is not known whether she truly was unfaithful; in any case, she came to be thought of and stigmatized as a woman who used her artistic pretensions as an excuse for sexual abandon. Despite the divorce and damage to her reputation, Na continued painting and won a special prize at the 10th Joseon Art Exhibition in 1931. She also published the essay Ihongobaekseo (이혼고백서 A Divorce Confession) in Samcheolli magazine in 1934, raising issues with gender inequality endorsed by Korean morality and tradition.  Na died alone on December 10, 1948 at a hospital for vagrants. Writing As well as being a painter, Na Hye-seok published fiction, poems, travelogues, and critical essays brimming with the spirit of the modern era. Writing across a spectrum of genres, she criticized the patriarchy and advocated for women's liberation, arguing that women were sexual beings as well and should be free to pursue relationships outside of marriage. Notable essays in this vein include her Silheom gyeolhollon (실험 결혼론 On Trial Cohabitation), published in 1930, Ihongobaekseo, and  Doksinyeojajeongjoron (독신여자정조론 On the Sex Lives of Unmarried Women), published in 1935. Na Hye-seok's most well-known work of fiction, Gyeonghui (경희 Gyeonghui), published in 1918 while studying in Japan, concerns a woman's self-discovery and her subsequent search for meaning in life as a new woman; it is the first feminist short story in Korean literature. Much of Na's work is written in a confessional voice, which was very much in vogue in 1920s-30s literature as well as being suited to exposing the oppression of women in a patriarchal society. Her 1921 poem, Inhyeongui jip (인형의 집 A Doll's House), criticized feudal, Confucianist family values that decreed the only roles for women were that of dutiful daughter, good wife and caring mother, comparing these roles to that of a doll. Na's short story, Eomeoniwa ttal (어머니와 딸 Mother and Daughter), published in 1937, was inspired by the tension between an old-fashioned mother and daughter with a modern education that she had observed while staying at a boarding house shortly before her divorce.