King Jong is a fictional character created by the Korean American writer Min Jin Lee in her 2017 novel Pachinko. He is a fourth-generation Korean immigrant living in Japan in the early 20th century. He is the son of Sunja, a young Korean woman who is forced to immigrate to Japan to work as a maid, and Hansu, a wealthy Japanese businessman.
King Jong is a complex and tragic character. He is intelligent and ambitious, but he is also deeply conflicted about his identity. He feels like an outsider in both Korea and Japan. He is also haunted by the trauma of his childhood, which was marked by poverty and violence.
Despite his challenges, King Jong rises to become a successful businessman and a respected leader in the Korean community in Japan. However, his success is ultimately bittersweet. He is never able to fully reconcile his Korean and Japanese identities, and he is ultimately forced to make a difficult choice between his two countries.
In 2022, the novel Pachinko was adapted into a critically acclaimed television series for Apple TV+. King Jong is played by Lee Min-ho, a South Korean actor.
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