Toward the greatest joy of the nation
Professor Emeritus Mane Heo
Han Kang is the true Korean voice of more than the fragility of human life. In the Korean dystopia, many stroies have long remained unsaid and suppressed. Han Kang spoke boldly and sharply but softly about the Kwangju Uprising and the Jeju Rebellion, etc. It is with our great admiration that her Nobel Prize poetic proses revealed such dark and bright memories in our times. Her poetic expressions might have been the strognest merit to allure the Swidish Nobel Academy to select Han Kang as a literature laureate. As to the aspect of trauma, she stood up to the historic traumas in particular, revealing the fragility of human life in her all masterpieces. Han's writings of poetic and experimental styles truly deserve great admiration. The former represents the rule of the Korean military governemtns and the latter, democratization by the Koreans. The Nobel PrIze winner hints that the Koreans themselves are the primary proud actors for the democratization and moving forward that they accomplished through a series of their long sacrifices of life. In addition, Moreover, Swedish Nobel Academy permanent officer Martz Malm said that "Han truly has not expected at all a Nobel Prize Award."
I feel, however, very happy that through her masterpieces, Han Kang is a full and hard witness of brightness and darkness in the historical dystopia. In addition, the 201st century great award for writer Han Kang speaks without ambiguity that North Korea is beaten and defeated onesidedly, in all respects of competition, by South Korea.
As another aspect of great admiration, Han Kang, the laureate of Nobel Literature Prize has refrained from making appearence before the public. She has not held even interviews that many Koreans repeatedly have demanded. Moreover, her father publicly said that any celebation is not needed at this time as many people have been killed in the battlefields in Ukraine and the Middle East. Tragic deaths are still going on. To be brief, I see something greater, refined and deeper in her character. Her behavoirs are truely worth our great admiration.
Han Kang's father, also a nobelist thought that the news about his daugher's win of the Nobel Literature Prize was fake news when it was announced. Novelist Han was also surprised by the news as her father was so when she first talked with the official of the Nobel Prize Office. It is the fact that Han is the first winner of the prize in Korea, thanks to the reputation of her works. Her win represnts that influenced by her literary style, the Korean literature has reached the level of poetic prose characters capable of accommodaing subjectively international magnitude at the level of global values in interature.
In her works, she has made remarkable efforts to unflinchingly address suffering, trauma, silence, and darkness, both in public and private spheres. Globally, her poetic proses have been recognized for its clear potential to captivate broader readers. I believe that Korean readers, in particular, take comfort and joy in the ability to engage with her writings, free from fear, and with a sense of happiness. This represents a profound source of pride for the nation.