[Asia Economy Reporter Seo Mideum] Poet Choi Young-mi, who exposed poet Ko Un's sexual misconduct scandal, posted a short message on social networking service (SNS) titled "Literature Practicing Hypocrisy." This is interpreted as her feelings regarding Ko Un, who was accused as the perpetrator of the sexual misconduct scandal, resuming public activities after five years.
Earlier, when news spread that Ko Un had published the poetry collection Song of Nothingness and the dialogue book Conversation with Ko Un, which compiled a dialogue with a Canadian poet, through Silcheon Munhaksa, poet Choi posted, "It is futile. This is how I feel now."
Poet Choi Young-mi exposed the reality of sexual misconduct in the literary world through her poem "Monster," published in a quarterly magazine at the end of 2017. The poem included lines such as "Don't sit next to Mr. En (omitted)/ Whenever he sees a young woman, he touches her..." Through subsequent media interviews, Choi claimed that Ko Un engaged in inappropriate behavior between 1992 and 1994 at bars, such as unzipping his pants and asking other women to touch specific parts of his body. At that time, Ko Un filed a lawsuit against Choi and others for defamation, claiming falsehoods damaged his honor, but he lost in both the first and second trials and eventually abandoned the appeal.
According to the publishing industry, Ko Un attempted to publish a poetry collection last fall, but when the contacted publishers expressed reluctance, it was reportedly published by Silcheon Munhaksa. Ko Un also contributed a poem to Silcheon Munhak's winter issue's "Kim Seong-dong Writer Memorial Special," which reportedly caused internal conflict because the editor-in-chief, novelist Gu Hyo-seo, was not informed.
Meanwhile, an online literary magazine, Newspaper, conducted a survey from the 7th to 8th among 172 writers and 1,817 readers regarding the appropriateness of Ko Un's return to the literary world. Of the 1,973 respondents, 99.2% opposed his return.
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