Novelist apologizes for plagiarism

By Chung Ah-young

Shin Kyung-sook

Prominent novelist Shin Kyung-sook Tuesday admitted plagiarizing passages of a famous story translated from Japanese to Korean and apologized to her fans.

The 52-year-old author broke her silence six days after novelist and poet Lee Eung-jun alleged that Shin’s 1996 short story “Legend” contained translated parts of Japanese author Yukio Mishima's “Patriotism” in his Huffington Post column on June 16. “Patriotism” was translated into Korean by renowned poet Kim Hu-ran in 1983.

“I think that it might be right to raise the question of plagiarism,” she said in an interview with The Kyunghyang Shinmun, a vernacular newspaper.

But she avoided the core of the criticism in the interview, saying that she can’t remember if she has read “Patriotism” but she can’t trust her own memory.

Shin also said that she will not announce the end of her writing career. “I cannot say I won’t write to avoid criticism right now. As the literature is my life itself, if I cannot write, I am not living,” she said.

Over growing accusations of plagiarism on her other works, including “Please Look After Mom,” she said that it was not intended. “While reading other novels, I sometimes feel how some passages are the same with my thoughts and even the episodes,” she said.

“I apologize to my fans and other authors who raised this issue. It was all my fault,” she said.

Changbi Publisher said that it will suspend publishing of the book “Potato Eaters,” which compiled Shin’s six short stories, including “Legend.”

However, her apology has drawn mixed reactions amid a torrent of public outrage via the Internet.

Over the past six days, she remained silent and denied the allegations through the Changbi Publisher. The publisher said that she has never heard of the Japanese work.

Best known for “Please Look After Mom,” Shin, the winner of the Asian Man Booker Prize, is a well-established author who marches up the million-seller list in this sagging publishing market.

Hyun Taik-soo, president of the Korea Institute for Social Affairs, filed a complaint with the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office last week accusing the writer of deceiving the publisher and readers. For this action, Lee announced his statement that it should be dealt with in literary circles and was not a matter to be subjected to a legal investigation.

Despite Shin’s apology, Hyun said that he will not drop the case because her interview is akin to self-justification without fully admitting plagiarism.

The plagiarism scandal reveals long-standing failures in the literary scene and the publishing industry.

Fifteen years ago, critic Jung Mun-sun raised the question of Shin’s originality in her works including “Legend” in the literary periodical “Munye Jungang.”

But at that time, both critics and publishers remained silent as the star authors are crucial for the sales in the sagging publishing market.

Shin’s “Please Look After Mom” has sold more than 2 million copies and has been translated into numerous foreign languages, which showed the possibility of the global appeal of Korean literature.

Critic Oh Chang-eun said that in the past, publishers tried to keep their own standards but now they put more emphasis on their profits. “Worse, literary criticism almost fails to properly function. Literary criticism only works in a close relation between the authors and the publishers,” Oh said in a statement of Writers Association of Korea. The association held the seminar to tackle the current plagiarism scandal and literary power.

Oh said that the voluntary screening of plagiarism has failed and literary critics have not questioned the literary community.

Kwon Sung-woo, professor of Sookmyung Women’s University, said on his Facebook that literary criticism falls prey into “fawning reviews” which are the main culprit for this scandal and hurting Korean literature.