The Han Dong-hoon Story

PART 07 Han Dong-hoon as a Person · Original Text 05

"Herman Melville's Moby Dick is the book of my life."

In several interviews, Han Dong-hoon unhesitatingly cited Moby Dick as the book of his life.

Most people remember this novel as a revenge tale against a great whale. Han Dong-hoon reads it differently.

He focuses not on Captain Ahab's madness, but on the human will to stand against overwhelming fate. Like the crew of the whaling ship Pequod, people from different backgrounds came together and moved toward a shared goal. He felt profound resonance in the image of those who continue their own path to the very end, even in the face of unavoidable catastrophe.

This happened in August 2023, shortly after he resigned as Minister of Justice.

An elementary school student sent him a letter with a Squirtle sticker.

Words of encouragement written in a child's handwriting, crowded on the page. Despite his busy schedule, Han Dong-hoon replied to this letter written in such delicate, childlike script.

And he sent her a book as a gift.

It was Moby Dick. Of course, it was an edition adapted for children. "This book tells a story about hunting whales, but it is truly a story about the courage to move toward the goals of life. When you read it in the future, it will be helpful to you."

Even in the uncertain days following his resignation as minister, he replied to a young fan's handwritten letter and gave her the book that had shaped his life. When this story spread through fan communities, Moby Dick rose to number one on the bestseller lists of Kyobo and Yes24.

His bookshelf contains works by Oe Kenzaburo, the Japanese Nobel Prize-winning author: A Personal Matter and Bitten by a Hippopotamus. Through these works depicting his life with his son Hikari, who had a brain function disorder, Han Dong-hoon felt deep resonance with the attitude of overcoming suffering and adversity while maintaining human dignity.

"The Oe couple found caring for their son Hikari to be a central pillar of their lives. Through their works, I gained insight into how personal experience and social responsibility are intertwined."

Raymond Carver, the American short story writer, is also among his favorite reads. Carver's stories depict loss and loneliness hidden in the everyday lives of ordinary people with a dry yet warm gaze.

What stands out is that among Carver's works, he prefers the versions edited by Gordon Lish. When asked why, he answered this way:

"They are more concise, more compressed, and more moving."

This reflects his long-standing principle that "a criminal investigation should be explainable in three lines."

His personal motto comes from the ancient Greek philosopher Democritus.

"The world is nothing but atoms and empty space; the rest is opinion."

It reveals his clear worldview: one that prioritizes fact and truth, unmoved by public judgment or criticism.

He even adopted Sydney Carton, the lawyer from Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, as an online ID. Sydney Carton is a character of self-sacrifice, ascending the guillotine in place of someone he loves. Why he was drawn to this figure, we can infer from his own life.

Han Dong-hoon speaks about reading this way:

"I find happiness in catching glimpses of other people's lives and discovering those whose sensibility aligns with mine." Literature is a place to train in empathy toward others' pain. It is a compass that keeps us from losing our way, even within complicated political realities.

When seeking to understand the human lives concealed within legal statutes, he always gazes into the mirror of literature. What is reflected there is not merely Captain Ahab's madness. It is the human will to continue one's own path to the very end, even in the face of overwhelming fate.

That is why Han Dong-hoon loves Moby Dick.

And it is also why he gave that book as a gift to a young elementary school student.

If this book has remained with you, even briefly, please support the publication of the next story.

(Voluntary contributions appreciated. Nonghyup Bank Account: 302-1096-0948-81, Account Holder: Kim Gyeong-jin)