M. Gorky and his works in Korea were very dramatic, as in Russia. The attitude of Koreans to the writer changed depending on the historical and ideological situation. In the colonial era of Japanese imperialism (1910–1945), especially in the 1920s – 1930s, when Koreans first met Gorky and his works, Maxim Gorky became a symbol of courage and hope for the Korean people and intellectuals. First of all, Koreans paid attention to the features of the biography of the writer - self-taught from the very bottom. From the very beginning of their acquaintance with Gorky, the Koreans noted the fact that he emerged from the very bottom and at the end of his life became the great writer of the new socialist Soviet Union. In 1945, Korea was liberated from the colonial yoke and received the status of an independent country. Russia, more precisely, Soviet Russia played an important political role in this. It is not surprising that in the next few years there was a period of Soviet boom. In the 1950s and 1970s, the logic of the Cold War dominated South Korea. Therefore, naturally, Gorky was a generally prohibited writer. In addition to some stories, almost all the works of Gorky could not be printed in South Korea. Many Korean young readers during this period did not even know the name of Gorky and his works. But in the 1980s, under the growing influence of progressive ideas, great interest arose in the literature of socialist realism, including the works of Gorky. In the 1980s, the scientific study of Gorky s creativity began. In the 21st century, M. Gorky is still an important writer for the Korean people. But in this case, Gorky is not just as a poet of revolution or founder of socialist realism , but a new Gorky , interpreted from the works <Untimely thoughts>, <Stories of 1922-1924 y.> and, finally, <The Life of Klim Samgin>.