author
Pang Im
1640–1724
A Joseon-era scholar-official whose writing life ran alongside a turbulent public career, he left behind poetry collections, classical studies, and a gathered works volume known as Suchonjip. His portrait and long record in Korean reference sources have helped keep his name alive centuries after his death.
1 Audiobook
Korean folk tales : Imps, ghosts and fairies
by Pang Im, Yuk Yi
About the author
Born in 1640 and dead in 1724, Pang Im—also known as Im Bang—was a Korean scholar, writer, and government official of the late Joseon period. Korean reference sources describe him as a civil official who held posts including censor, royal secretary, and minister of public works, and note that he studied under major Neo-Confucian figures of his time.
His career unfolded during a politically tense era. He passed early examinations, later succeeded in the higher civil service examination, and at one point was exiled during factional conflict before being posthumously cleared after a change in the throne. That mix of public service and political danger gives his life story an unusual dramatic edge.
In later years, he was remembered not only for officeholding but for his devotion to books. Sources say he copied and studied the I Ching and the Analects by hand, admired Tang poetry, and compiled several poetry anthologies and scholarly works, including Suchonjip. He is best approached as a literary-minded statesman: a man of letters whose writing survived the court struggles of his age.