Korea's First Audio Description Writer Seo Su-yeon Tells Her Story in New Book

Seo Su-yeon (서수연) helped create a profession in Korea. Her new book, 보이지 않지만 볼 수 있는 ("Invisible but Visible"), documents it.

Before audio description, she was chasing drama writing and voice acting. Neither stuck. The pivot became her life's work. In the book, she argues the job should be called 음성해설 (voice description) instead of the more common 화면해설 (screen description)—because the work spans live theater and screen media both.

The craft itself is a constrained form of fiction writing. Describe every visual detail in plain sentences, scene by scene, with zero embellishment. A writer's narration cannot step on character dialogue. The only permitted space is the brief silence between lines. That narrow window shapes every word choice.

Short, unadorned sentences are the standard. No flourishes. Just what the scene looks like.

Seo also argues that doing this well requires what she calls a "warm heart"—a writer who feels the weight of their words and holds the responsibility of being a cultural gateway for visually impaired audiences. Treat it as art, not a technical task.

The gap between that responsibility and current reality is stark. The number of Korean titles that actually offer audio description remains minimal. (The book doesn't quantify it, but the point lands.)

Seo Su-yeon's account is the first extended look at a profession most audiences have never thought about.