Chong Sung Bak, a Korean writer based in Japan, was found dead Monday at his house in Sumoto, Hyogo Prefecture, friends said. He was 77.

Chong apparently died of a stroke, police said. He was found dead by an acquaintance who went to visit him Monday morning.

A native of the present-day North Kyongsang Province in South Korea, he arrived in Japan at the age of 9 and later became a forced laborer.

Chong won an agrarian literature prize in 1972 for "Hadaka no Horyo" ("The Naked Prisoner"), which was also nominated for the coveted Akutagawa literary prize.

A funeral and memorial service are scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.