A candid story that sparked a heated debate on Facebook.

President Lee Jae-myung has compiled the autobiography he serialized on his Facebook page for four months into a book.
He was born into a family of farmers and became a boy worker at the age of thirteen. He passed the bar exam, returned to the industrial complex, lived as a friend of workers, became mayor, governor, and finally, a strong presidential candidate. This book candidly captures the important moments in his life.
In addition, it also includes President Lee Jae-myung's honest feelings as he looks back on that time.

I hope my story reaches you as a warm whisper, like the sprouting of seeds that have been preparing for spring beneath the frozen ground all winter.
After entering college and learning about the tragedy in Gwangju, I wrote in my diary a pledge to live for the honest and simple people and the underprivileged in this society who are sad because they have nothing.
And I've come this far trying to keep that promise.
It was rewarding and I met many precious people.
But I also often realized how difficult it is to keep that promise.
There were many times when I felt so wronged and scared.


The fight against the establishment left me with many scars.
It will take time and be difficult for the truth to come out.
But this is what I learned.
The truth will surely come out someday.
This book is my sincere confession to the people.
If it weren't for the power of the people, Lee Jae-myung wouldn't exist.
And if it weren't for the will of the people, there would be no Lee Jae-myung in the future.
Please join us… … .
I bow my head in gratitude to those who reached out to me whenever I was in need, those who stood by me, shouting, "I am Lee Jae-myung," when I was unfairly attacked, and the citizens who encouraged me, believing I was necessary for the Republic of Korea of ​​tomorrow, where our struggling young people will live.
--- From the "Preface"

Anyone who knows Lee Jae-myung's life knows how much he has suffered to get to where he is today.
But the wounds he suffered are indelible records of his struggles against poverty, injustice, and unfairness.
Not a single wound was sustained while trying to protect his personal interests. As the 13th-century Persian poet Rumi said, "Wounds are the passages through which light enters a human being."
To borrow the insight of a poet who walked through the moonlight of the Middle Ages, his wounds are traces of the light that seeped into his inner self.
--- p.193

'I will try to be a light to honest and simple people, to those who are sad because they have nothing.'

He came this far because of that dream.
Lee Jae-myung's autobiography, "I Came Here Because of That Dream," is a record of one man's tearfully beautiful dream and the countless wounds he suffered on his journey toward that dream.
Through that wound, he absorbed the inner light and became a luminous being himself.

--- p.194