Renowned novelist and translator Lee Yoon-ki died of heart failure on Friday at age 63.

Lee had been receiving care at a hospital in southern Seoul following a heart attack.

Born in a rural village in North Gyeongsang Province in 1947, Lee made his literary debut in 1977 when his short novel "White Helicopter" won a contest organized by the JoongAng Ilbo daily newspaper.

He received the Dong-in Literature Prize in 1998 with a novel roughly translated as "Finding Hidden Pictures."

In 2000, Lee was named the Best Korean Translator by Mimesis, an almanac publisher on translation literature.

Lee, whose main interests were Greek and Roman mythology, devoted much of his time to studying and translating Western classics into Korean.

Lee translated the Western novels "Zorba the Greek" by Nikos Kazantzakis and "The Name of the Rose" by Umberto Eco. He also wrote many acclaimed books including the three-volume "Greek and Roman Myths."