He grew up as a sickly infant, who first thought of entering a career in writing when he read The Count of Monte Cristo while in the hospital for the treatment of tuberculosis.
In 1961 his writing brought him into conflict with the government and when his work Land of Excrement (분지) was re-published in North Korea.
This fact was used by South Korean authorities, who then found Nam in violation of the Anti-Communist Law and sentenced him to imprisonment.
But Nam Jeonghyeon's critique of all-pervasive injustice, as scathing as it is, can often leave the reader feeling somewhat hollow.
His works stop at addressing surface phenomena and fail to reflect on what may lie crouched underneath.