Chung Jae-won was born in Seoul and immigrated to the U.S. with his family in 1990. He graduated from Swarthmore College with a B.A. in philosophy. He is living in New York and is a graduate student at Columbia University's School of the Arts. He is working on a novel and teaching English composition to Columbia freshmen. Last summer he translated the article, "Born Out of Po-Wal: Ham Sup's Works in Hanji" by Professor Um Ki-Hong of Chongju University, which was published in an art catalogue.