He made his literary debut in 1988 with the novella Uri eoksen jumeok (우리 억센 주먹 Our Clenched Fists), and continued to write novels on labor issues into the early 1990s.
All thirteen accepted his request, including the singer and social activist Jeong Tae-chun whose songs later inspired Lee's 2017 novel Geonneoganda (건너간다 Crossing).
He worked at a steel mill, plywood factory, and hotteok plant during his hiatus to earn a living and pay the medical bills for his wife who had been ill for seven years.
[3] His time at the factories made him realize working conditions had not improved over the years, and the experience is reflected in his 2016 short story collection Pyeheoreul boda (폐허를 보다 I See the Ruins).
The Chun Doo-hwan administration's violent suppression of the Gwangju Uprising radicalized many South Korean intellectuals who had long opposed the country's military dictatorships.
Lee’s novel Geonneoganda (건너간다 Crossing) (2017) is about the life and work of Jeong Tae-chun who “sang the hopes of the people at every turn of history, from the authoritarian Park Chung Hee government in the 70s and Gwangju Uprising in the 80s through the June Struggle of 1987 to today’s candlelight rallies.”[9]