계엄령에 '충격'을 받은 한강, “무력, 강압으로 통제하는 상황으로 돌아가지 않길”Han Kang 'shocked' by martial

[정승남세기영어교육연구회장]

Han Kang 'shocked' by martial law, calls it a 'return to the age of control and suppression'

계엄령에 '충격'을 받은 한강, “무력, 강압으로 통제하는 상황으로 돌아가지 않길”

노벨문학상 수상 기념 기자간담회서 밝혀

이지안2024. 12. 6. 21:26 The Korea JoongAng Daily / 중앙일보

"Just as many other Koreans would have been over the past couple of days, I was shocked that the martial law was declared in the year 2024," she told the press in Stockholm on Friday. "I hope that [we] do not go back to using military force."

Korean author Han Kang answers questions from reporters at the Nobel Prize Museum in Sweden on Dec. 6 during her first official press conference since winning the Nobel Prize in Literature. [YONHAP]

Author Han Kang said she is "following the news with shock" regarding the recent declaration and withdrawal of Korea's emergency martial law.

"Just like many other Koreans during the past couple of days, I was shocked that martial law was declared in the year 2024," she reportedly told the press in Stockholm on Friday. "I sincerely hope we will not go back to the age of control and suppression of speech."

President Yoon Suk Yeol declared emergency martial law on Tuesday, putting one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies under military rule. The decree was lifted six hours later, following a unanimous parliament vote as well as a nationwide fury and anxiety that rippled around the world.

"I saw people trying to stop armed vehicles with their bodies, restraining armed soldiers by hugging them with their bare hands, and standing ground though soldiers were approaching with guns. When the troops were retreating, I also saw some shouting goodbye as if they were talking to their sons,” said Han.

Author Han Kang looks over displays at the Nobel Prize Museum in Stockholm, Sweden, on Friday. She held a press conference on the same day. [YONHAP]

Korean author Han Kang answers questions from reporters at the Nobel Prize Museum in Sweden on Dec. 6 during her first official press conference since winning the Nobel Prize in Literature. [YONHAP]

Speaking about the soldiers dispatched to the front of the parliament building in western Seoul, she added: "I felt an inner conflict and that they were moving passively. From the perspective of those who ordered the command, it may be seen as passive, but from the more general value perspective, I think it was an active act of thinking and judging, to try to find solutions while feeling pain."

Many of Han’s books are about human trauma, particularly those incurred by historical and societal events. Her book “Human Acts” (2014) directly deals with the last time emergency martial law was declared, in 1979. It led to the 1980 May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement and a military coup by former president and then-brigadier general Chun Doo-Hwan (1931-2021) - events which Han poignantly narrates through the book's characters.

Her latest novel, “We Do Not Part” (2021), slated for an English-language publication in January, is set during the Jeju Uprising that began in 1947. After Korea’s liberation from Japan, civilians protested against the U.S. military government and the imminent division of the peninsula. Deemed “communist forces,” some 30,000 people on Jeju Island were massacred until 1954.

Korean author Han Kang answers questions from reporters at the Nobel Prize Museum in Sweden on Dec. 6 during her first official press conference since winning the Nobel Prize in Literature. [YONHAP]

Korean author Han Kang answers questions from reporters at the Nobel Prize Museum in Sweden on Dec. 6 during her first official press conference since winning the Nobel Prize in Literature. [YONHAP]

Han will continue to celebrate her Nobel win in Stockholm throughout next week. On Saturday, she is scheduled to give a live-streamed lecture and attend the Nobel Prize ceremony on Dec. 10 at the Konserthuset concert hall.

Han is the first Korean author to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. She is also the first female Asian to win the 123-year-old accolade and the second Korean to receive a Nobel Prize, following President Kim Dae-jung (1924-2009), who won the Peace Prize in 2000.

BY LEE JIAN [lee.jian@joongang.co.kr]

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한강 “무력, 강압으로 통제하는 상황으로 돌아가지 않길”

성윤수2024. 12. 6. 21:10 국민일보

노벨문학상 수상 기념 기자간담회서 밝혀

2024 노벨문학상 수상자인 한강 작가가 6일(현지시간) 스웨덴 스톡홀름 노벨박물관에서 기자회견을 하고 있다. 연합뉴스

2024년 노벨 문학상 수상자로 선정된 작가 한강은 6일(현지시간) 계엄령과 관련해 “무력, 강압으로 통제하는 상황으로 돌아가지 않길 바란다”고 말했다.

한강 작가는 6일 스웨덴 스톡홀롬에서 열린 노벨 문학상 수상 기념 기자간담회에 참석해 “지난 며칠 동안 아마 많은 한국분들이 그랬을텐데, 2024년에 계엄상황이 전개된 것에 충격을 받았다”며 이같이 말했다.

그는 다만 “2024년 겨울의 상황이 (예전의 계엄과) 다른 점은 모든 상황이 생중계돼서 모두가 지켜볼 수 있었다는 점”이라고 설명했다.

또 “젊은 경찰분들, 군인 분들의 태도도 인상 깊었다”며 “아마 많은 분이 느끼셨을 것 같은데 예기치 못한 상황에서 판단하려고 하고, 내적 충돌을 느끼면서 최대한 소극적으로 움직이고 있다는 느낌을 받았다”고 했다.

문학의 역할에 대해서는 “문학이라는 것은, 끊임없이 타인의 내면으로 들어가고, 또 그런 과정에서 자신의 내면을 깊게 파고들어 가는 그런 행위이기 때문에, 계속해서 그런 행위들을 반복하면서 어떤 내적인 힘이 생긴다”고 말했다.

스웨덴 한림원은 지난 10월 10일 올해 노벨 문학상 수상자로 한강을 선정했다. 당시 한림원은 그의 작품 세계를 “역사적 트라우마에 맞서고 인간 삶의 연약함을 드러낸 강렬한 시적 산문”이라며 선정 사유를 밝혔다.

한강 작가의 작품 중 ‘소년이 온다’는 1980년 비상계엄하의 광주민주화운동을 다루고 있다. 이 때문에 스웨덴에서 있을 기자간담회에서 최근 국내에서 벌어진 비상계엄 사태에 대한 언급이 있을지 주목됐다.

한편 노벨상 시상식은 오는 10일 오후 4시 스톡홀름 랜드마크인 콘서트홀에서 열린다. 스웨덴 국왕이 이 자리에서 문학상 등 5개 분야 수상자에게 노벨상 증서와 메달을 수여한다.

성윤수 기자 tigris@kmib.co.kr

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