Nobel Prize Winner Han Kang Responds to Continued Mentions of Critic Husband: "Divorced Years Ago"

Statement on Reexamining Novels Related to Childbirth

Novelist Han Kang [Photo by Yonhap News]

Novelist Han Kang, who won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature, was revealed to have divorced late.

According to the literary community on the 15th, Han Kang divorced literary critic Hong Yonghee long ago. This was revealed when Han Kang requested a correction to an article by Newsis that reexamined the 'literary family' of her father, husband, and brother. A representative from the publisher Munhakdongne said, "Since Han Kang had divorced long ago, reporting her as currently having a husband causes great discomfort to her."

On the 10th, after the announcement of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Han Kang responded in a phone call with a committee official to the question of how she would celebrate her award by saying, "I want to have a cup of tea with my son."

Afterwards, a post titled "The words that persuaded writer Han Kang, who did not want to have children" was uploaded on an online community. The post included part of her autobiographical novel Silence. In the novel, Han Kang said, "There are certainly beautiful moments in the world, and for now, life is worth living. How to get through the tunnel until a child reaches this thought, and whether they can get through it at all. It is not a burden I can live for them, so how can I make them go through it again?"

Then, Hong Yonghee, who was her husband at the time and a literary critic, replied, "There are so many delicious things in the world. Watermelon is sweet in summer, chamoe melon in spring, and water tastes sweet when you are thirsty. Don't you want to let them taste all that? Don't you want to let them hear the sound of rain and see the snow?" Han Kang, who laughed at these words, said, "Even if nothing else, the fact that watermelon is sweet in summer felt like an undeniable truth." She added, "Thinking of the taste of red watermelon that crumbles like sugar, I lost my words at the end of my laughter."

A bookstore in Seoul
[Photo by Yonhap News]

On the 10th, at the announcement of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature, novelist Han Kang, who wrote works such as The Vegetarian, Human Acts, and Never Let Me Go, was selected as the laureate. This is the second time a Korean has received a Nobel Prize, following President Kim Dae-jung's Peace Prize in 2000. Han Kang will attend the 'Pony Chung Innovation Award' ceremony held on the 17th.