By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
Kim Joo-youn, new director of Korea Literature Translation Institute (KLTI), said that the institute will launch a translator pool system to improve the quality of translations of Korean literature. The Korea Literature Translation Institute Translator System will be operational in the second half of the year, targeting translators of major languages.
``Korean literature has been widely known to the world in terms of quantity due to the institute's efforts but we still can't guarantee the quality of the work, so among the major tasks ahead of me, I will put more emphasis on raising the quality of translated literature,'' Kim said at a press conference in Seoul, Thursday.
Since its inception in 2001, the institute has published 358 works in 26 countries and made contracts with 160 publishing companies in other countries.
To enhance the quality of the translated works, the 68-year-old director, who was appointed the fourth director of the institute last month, said that it needs to adopt a more aggressive program to support the quality of translators.
``We'll designate the capable translators as ``KLTI Translators,'' which means they have proven qualifications. They will be part of our translators' pool for the institute's projects,'' he said.
The institute is currently making contact with 20 professors working in the United States for the pool and the winners of the KLTI Translation Awards.
The organization will also extend translations from novels, poems and dramas to children's books.
``The proportion of translated children's books is extremely low. We didn't support them, but the genre is becoming influential in the publication market, so we will expand the number of aides for their translation from this year,'' he said.
In the upcoming Bologna Children's Book Fair, which will take place March 23-26, Korea will be the Guest of Honor and introduce Korean literature, history and tradition through the illustrators exhibition and a wide rage of initiatives.
He said that the institute will offer a flash animation show from ``My Sajik-dong,'' a story-telling presentation of a traditional fairytale _ ``Woman Who Doesn't Eat'' _ and other cultural events.
The institute will also hire profession coordinators at home and abroad to strengthen human resources with other countries to promote Korean literature.
The director graduated from the department of German language and literature at Seoul National University and served as a professor at Sookmyung Women's University from 1978 to 2006.
He will lead the institute for three years.