Mother of the protagonist in 'The Boy Comes' says "Han Kang comforted my son"

"On the Han River Water, 'Will Reveal the Horrors of May 18 to the World'"

Kim Gil-ja (84), the mother of the late Moon Jae-hak, who was the motif for Han Kang, the Nobel Literature Prize-winning author’s novel Boyhood Comes, expressed her gratitude to the author. "Author Han has relieved Jae-hak’s resentment," she said.

In an interview with Yonhap News on the 11th, Kim said, "I was so happy and delighted by the news of Author Han’s award that I thought my heart would stop." She added that she was glad that the horrors of the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement could be revealed to the world.

The mother of the late Moon Jae-hak, who was the inspiration for the protagonist of 'The Boy is Coming' Kim Gil-ja [Image source=Yonhap News]

Kim said, "More than my hundred words of struggle, the truth of May 18 has been made known to the world through the author’s one book," and expressed her expectation that "since she received the Nobel Literature Prize, May 18 will be known worldwide beyond Korea."

She also showed a portrait photo of Moon and said, "To Jae-hak, now that you have achieved everything you couldn’t accomplish, don’t worry and enjoy your time with your friends (in heaven)," adding, "I hope (my son) now forgets everything and rests peacefully."

Moon was a first-year student at Gwangju Commercial High School in May 1980. Known as the so-called "youngest citizen soldier of May 18," he participated in the protests despite his mother’s objections after hearing the news that his elementary school classmate Yang Chang-geun had died. He was shot and killed on May 27 of the same year while defending the old Jeonnam Provincial Office during the martial law army’s suppression operation.

Han Kang’s Boyhood Comes, published in 2014, shed light on the tragedy of May 18 from the perspective of the protagonist Dong-ho, who was modeled after Moon. Earlier on the 10th, the Swedish Academy, which selected Han Kang as the Nobel Literature Prize laureate, praised the novel for "facing brutal reality and thereby approaching the genre of ‘testimonial literature.’"