Chungnim Kohoe

The Chungnim Kohoe was a literary group active in Korea during the later Koryŏ period (12th century to 1392). This group, which included prominent figures like Kim Guk-gi, O Se-Jae, Yi Il-Lo, and Yi Gyu-Bo, was instrumental in the development of literary criticism in Korea.1

The group's members engaged in vigorous debates about literary theory and artistic creation. Yi Il-Lo, in his work P'ahan jip, defended the value of literature and emphasized the beauty of a well-crafted sentence. In contrast, Yi Gyu-Bo, in his Paegun sosol, argued that content should take precedence over ornamentation and that creativity is paramount in literature. Their discussions and writings significantly influenced the literary landscape of the time, contributing to the intellectual depth of Korean literature.12