Born in Pyongyang in 1921, Kang Sunghee spent her childhood in Andong Province, Manchukuo, because of her father's business.
[2] After Japan lost World War II, Kang returned to Korea and majored in English literature.
Her play Mwonga dandanhi jalmotdwaetgeodeun (뭔가 단단히 잘못됐거든 Something's Definitely Wrong), published in 1967, received a great deal of attention and was staged several times by college students in the 1970s.
In 1996, a complete collection of her plays was published in 1996, and, in recognition of her literary achievement, she received the Korean Literature Award [ko] in the same year.
Aside from one of her earlier works, Mwonga dandanhi jalmotdwaetgeodeun, most of her plays handle the conflicts between reality and ideals the characters face with a heavy and serious tone.
[7] This is a projection of her own experience, as Kang herself was unable to start her writing career for a long time despite her studying English literature and her interest in playwriting.
The anguish of the modern people whose desire to lead an ideal life is prevented by realistic constraints is an issue that Kang has addressed consistently through her plays.
Through Cheolswae, a play about the tragic life of Na Hye-sok, the first female artist in Korea to specialize in Western-style painting, Kang asks why the discrepancy between reality and ideal was particularly harsher on women.
One thing of note is that she does not place women and men, members of the pro-Japan faction and independence activists under the dichotomy of good and evil.
Kang was able to address the issue of comfort women relatively earlier than others because of her artistic world and belief that the cause of the tragic lives and struggles of individuals is based on history and realities.
《흔적, 그 열정의 비망록》, 동서문화사, 2007 / Heunjeok, ku yeoljeongui bimangnok (Traces: The Memoir of Passion), Dong Suh Book, 2007.