— Overview
The notes introduce the two authors of a 2021 book and close on a critic’s remark about body and technology.
— Contents and key concepts
Kim Cho-yeop, from a science-fiction debut to a joint book
The notes introduce Kim Cho-yeop as a writer of science fiction who debuted by winning the 2017 Korea Science Literature Award and who holds a master’s degree from POSTECH. They name three works — If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light, Cognitive Space, and Gwannae Bunsil, a title they treat as “lost within the jurisdiction” — and say she has written steadily since 2017.
In 2021 she published Become a Cyborg with Kim Won-young, from the publisher Sasejeol. Her fiction, they write, often takes up progressive subjects such as minorities and women. In her late teens she acquired a hearing impairment. The notes keep that fact with her path, not with the other author’s.
Kim Won-young, the law, and a wheelchair
Kim Won-young, as the notes then turn to him, studied sociology and law at Seoul National University, went on to law school, and has worked at the National Human Rights Commission; he now works as a lawyer and a writer. He has osteogenesis imperfecta — bones that break easily from birth — and uses a wheelchair. Because of long hospital stays, he finished elementary school by qualification exam and went to a special school for middle school.
Among his books they name A Defense for Those Who Were Disqualified and Humanities and Medicine. The two lives are kept apart.
A question about technology, and a critic’s agreement
The book, they write, discusses whether, amid rapidly advancing science and technology, disability in our society ought to be ended by technology. Removing disability through technology can be a way of forcing a “normal,” and it makes us look again at how disabled people are seen.
A short awards list follows for Cho-yeop: Gwannae Bunsil took the 2017 Korea Science Literature Award’s grand prize for mid-length and short fiction; If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light took an honorable mention in the same contest, and in 2019 the same work received Today’s Writer Award; Cognitive Space received a Young Writer Award in 2020.
Professor Jeon Chi-hyung, of the graduate school of science and technology policy at KAIST, agrees about the relation of the human body to the technology around it. He is wary of a social habit that praises, from a non-disabled gaze, a “warm technology” meant to overcome disability while ignoring disabled people’s own opinions and needs. The design of body and technology, he strongly agrees, should center the lives of disabled people now, not a future “someday.” The notes leave off on that agreement. CampusDown has the same Korean report at fuller length.
Sources
- The notes, a student reading of Become a Cyborg (Sasejeol, 2021): Kim Cho-yeop’s science-fiction path and acquired hearing impairment; Kim Won-young’s path as lawyer and writer with osteogenesis imperfecta; and Jeon Chi-hyung’s remark that the design of body and technology should center present disabled lives.
Last updated: 15 November 2026
Frequently asked questions
What path do the notes keep for Kim Cho-yeop?
She is introduced as a writer of science fiction who debuted by winning the 2017 Korea Science Literature Award and who holds a master’s degree from POSTECH. The notes name three works — If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light, Cognitive Space, and Gwannae Bunsil (Lost within the Jurisdiction) — and say she has written steadily since 2017. In 2021 she published Become a Cyborg with Kim Won-young, from the publisher Sasejeol. Her fiction, they write, often takes up progressive subjects such as minorities and women. In her late teens she acquired a hearing impairment.
What path do they keep for Kim Won-young, without mixing the two lives?
He studied sociology and law at Seoul National University, went on to law school, and has worked at the National Human Rights Commission; he now works as a lawyer and a writer. He has osteogenesis imperfecta — bones that break easily from birth — and uses a wheelchair. Because of long hospital stays, he finished elementary school by qualification exam and went to a special school for middle school. Among his books the notes name A Defense for Those Who Were Disqualified and Humanities and Medicine.
How is the book’s question framed, and where do the notes stop?
They ask whether, amid rapidly advancing science and technology, disability in our society ought to be ended by technology. Removing disability through technology, they write, can be a way of forcing a “normal,” and it makes us look again at how disabled people are seen. Awards for Cho-yeop’s three named works are listed, including a grand prize and an honorable mention in 2017, Today’s Writer Award in 2019, and a Young Writer Award in 2020. Professor Jeon Chi-hyung, of the graduate school of science and technology policy at KAIST, agrees that the design of body and technology should center the lives of disabled people now, not a future “someday,” and he is wary of praise for a “warm technology” that ignores disabled people’s own opinions and needs. The notes stop there.
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