Jang Kyung-soo

Jang Kyung-soo was a South Korean lyricist whose words shaped some of the most beloved Korean pop songs of the 1970s through the 1990s. Born Jang Hee-won in 1953 in Sokcho, in the eastern province of Gangwon, he fell into songwriting almost by accident, meeting the singer Ham Jung-a at a reserve forces training site, who in turn introduced him to her older brother, the composer Ham Jung-pil. That connection launched a career that began in 1977 with Yoon Soo-il's song 'I Guess It Was a Dream,' composed by Ham Jung-pil.

Over the following two decades Jang became one of the most prolific lyricists in Korean popular music, writing words for singers who defined the era. He is best remembered for Cho Yong-pil's hit 'Scar' (also widely translated as 'Injury'), one of the songs most associated with his name, as well as Choi Jin-hee's 'Little Doll,' Song Dae-kwan's 'Because of Affection,' Yoo Mi-ri's 'Notebook of Youth' and Yoon Hee-sang's 'Lovers of the Casbah.' His lyrics also reached a younger generation decades later: a song he wrote with Ham Jung-pil for Ham Jung-a and the Yankees, 'I Heard a Rumor,' drew fresh attention in 2012 when the band Jang Kiha and the Faces recorded it for the soundtrack of the film 'War on Crime: The Golden Age of Bad Guys.'

Beyond his own catalogue of hits, Jang held leadership roles within Korea's music industry, serving as the ninth president of the Korea Popular Songwriters Association and as a board member of the Korea Music Copyright Association. In his later years he appeared on television to reflect on his career and health, including a 2018 appearance on KBS2's 'Immortal Songs' and an appearance on MBN's 'Special World' in September 2025, in which he spoke about collapsing while recording and being told by doctors that his condition had been very dangerous, revealing that he had an underlying illness.

Jang Kyung-soo died on the morning of 29 October 2026 at the age of 73 after a battle with liver cancer. His family confirmed his death in a call with Yonhap News, saying he had passed away that morning. A song festival named in his honour, the 'Jang Kyung-su Star Discovery Song Festival,' had been due to be held in his hometown of Sokcho on 25 October 2026 but was cancelled days earlier because of his deteriorating health, a sign to those close to him that the end was near.

His death closes the chapter on one of the quieter but steadily influential careers in Korean popular song, a writer whose words, carried by some of the biggest voices of his generation, remained part of the national soundtrack long after the decades in which they were written.