This year’s prize-winning author said today that she was shocked by the news of martial law being declared this week in her home country and that violence should not be used to suppress people.
“I watched, in a state of shock, the situation as it unfolded,” he told a news conference in Stockholm, where he is expected to receive the coveted prize next week, which comes with a cash prize of 11 million Swedish kroner.
The Swedish Academy honored Han, the first South Korean writer to win the literary prize, for her “poignant poetic prose that deals with historical trauma and exposes the fragility of human life,” announcing its winner award, in October.
Han lived as a child in Guangzhou, a city known for killing people who protested against the dictatorship that was imposed on the country more than four decades ago and sparked pro-democracy protests across the country. Her novel “Human Acts” talks about the victims from this era.
“Like everyone that night, I was shocked,” she said through an interpreter, referring to the events of last Tuesday, when North Korean President Yun Seok-gil seized the six-nation nation, declaring martial law for the first time in 44 years. His action led to a chaotic standoff between Parliament and the military, leading to him reversing his decision a few hours later.
“Well, to write ‘Human Acts,’ I spent a lot of time studying the martial law situation we had in 1979. To see a similar situation unfold in real time before my eyes in 2024 was terrifying.”
Asked if she was worried about the future of freedom of expression in South Korea, Han said through an interpreter: “Whatever happens in the future, the truth will still be told.”
Many protesters who gathered in Seoul to protest Yun’s action said they feared a return to the dictatorships and martial law that marked much of South Korea’s post-war period before the transition to democracy in the 1980s.
Source: RES-MPE
