(Nothing is impossible) 노벨문학상 수상자 한강, 대통령과 정치인들 축하 행렬 - The Korea Times

[twinkle]

Politics

President, politicians rush to congratulate Han Kang on winning Nobel Prize in literature

 노벨문학상 수상자 한강,  대통령과 정치인들 축하 행렬

"많은 사람들이 언어와 국적 장벽 때문에 한국이 노벨 문학상을 수상할 수 없다고 생각했지만 ...

Posted : 2024-10-11 15:28

Updated : 2024-10-11 19:0

A person watches a news broadcast showing file footage of Korean author, now Nobel laureate, Han Kang at a train station in Seoul, Thursday. AFP-Yonhap

By Kwak Yeon-soo

President Yoon Suk Yeol and lawmakers across the political spectrum congratulated author Han Kang on winning the country’s first Nobel Prize in literature.

Yoon praised Han for transforming the country’s historical wounds into great literary works and raising the value of Korean literature. Earlier, the Swedish Academy lauded Han’s work for her “intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.”

“I send my heartfelt congratulations to author Han Kang on winning the Nobel Prize in literature. It is a monumental achievement in the history of Korean literature and a national milestone that all Koreans should celebrate,” Yoon wrote on his Facebook page, Thursday, during his visit to Laos to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit.

Han’s unexpected victory united lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, as politicians across the political spectrum quickly came forward to commend her.

Rep. Choo Kyung-ho, floor leader of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), congratulated Han for creating a miracle like the "Miracle on the Han River," referring to Korea's meteoric rise from being one of Asia's poorest nations to one of the region's richest countries.

“Many used to believe that South Korea cannot win a Nobel Prize in literature due to language and nationality barriers, but Han Kang showed us nothing is impossible,” Choo said during a party meeting, Friday.

추씨는 금요일 당대회에서 "많은 사람들이 언어와 국적 장벽 때문에 한국이 노벨 문학상을 수상할 수 없다고 생각했지만 한강은 불가능한 것이 없다는 것을 보여주었습니다."라고 말했습니다.

Rep. Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), said he hopes Han’s Nobel Prize in literature “provides great encouragement to the people.”

“It’s (such) great news for us that it sends shivers of joy radiating through my entire body. Congratulations to Han Kang who demonstrated the power of Korean literature and transformed the painful scars of our modern history into great pieces of literature,” Lee wrote on his Facebook page.

Rep. Cho Kuk, leader of the minor opposition Rebuilding Korea Party, said the moment would be forever engraved in Korea’s literary history. “Today is a day when Han Kang’s sharp and bare sentences brought more light to the world,” he wrote on his Facebook page.