Hoped Until the Last Moment... Why the 'Korean Name Announcement' at Hangang Was Canceled

18th Female Nobel Literature Laureate
Han Kang, First Korean to Walk the 'Blue Carpet'

It has been confirmed that the Nobel Prize in Literature award ceremony announcement for Han Kang, which was originally planned to be made in Korean, was changed to English at the final preparation stage. It is speculated that the plan was altered due to concerns that awkward and unnatural Korean pronunciation might disrupt the atmosphere and gravity of the ceremony.

At the '2024 Nobel Prize Award Ceremony' held on the afternoon of the 10th (local time), Ellen Mattson, a lifetime member of the Swedish Academy and the presenter of the Literature Prize, called Han Kang's name in English, saying, "Dear Han Kang, on behalf of the Swedish Academy, it is an honor to extend warm congratulations. Please come forward to receive the award from His Majesty the King."

Although the call for "Korean language" was canceled, Han Kang became the first Asian woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature on the stage of the world's most prestigious Nobel Prize ceremony, which was broadcast live that day, imprinting the status of Korean literature worldwide. Photo by AFP and Yonhap News

Originally, Mattson was supposed to read the Academy speech in Swedish first and then call the last two sentences in Korean. However, it is known that this was changed to English at the final preparation stage. Park Ok-kyung, the translator who was commissioned for the Korean translation, told Yonhap News, "A few days before the ceremony, I received a message from Mattson's side saying it would be impossible and that they ultimately decided to do it in English," adding, "At first, they asked me to translate the last line into Korean, saying they would do it in Korean. After I sent the translated sentence, they requested an additional line to be translated, saying they could not guarantee it yet."

Previously, Park and her husband Anders Karlsson, a Swedish national and professor of Korean Studies at SOAS, University of London, reportedly recorded the Korean sentences themselves and delivered them. The couple jointly translated Han Kang's novels Works Do Not Say Goodbye and White into Swedish. Park said, "The Academy is an institution that promotes the development of the Swedish language, so the speech is traditionally read in Swedish, but when calling the recipient's name at the end, it is sometimes done in the recipient's native language, which has mostly been Western languages so far," and speculated, "Mattson practiced Korean until the end, but since the pronunciation was so unfamiliar, it seems that was the reason."

It has been understood that the Nobel Literature Prize ceremony remarks originally planned to be delivered in Korean for Han Kang were changed to English in the final preparation stage. It is speculated that the plan was altered due to concerns that the atmosphere and gravity of the ceremony might be disrupted by awkward and unnatural Korean pronunciation. Reuters·Yonhap News

The use of the recipient's native language during the Nobel Prize award ceremony is known to vary each year depending on the recipient's nationality and other circumstances. When French female writer Annie Ernaux won in 2022 and Austrian writer Peter Handke in 2019, the last sentence was called entirely in French and German, respectively. When Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk won in 2006, the presenter spoke the last sentence entirely in Turkish. On the other hand, when Chinese novelist Mo Yan won in 2012, the entire speech was read in Swedish, and only his name was called in Chinese as "Mo Yan qing (請, meaning 'please')."

Although the 'Korean' announcement was canceled, Han Kang became the first Asian woman to receive the Literature Prize on the stage of the world's most prestigious Nobel Prize award ceremony, which was broadcast live worldwide, thereby imprinting the status of Korean literature globally. Han Kang is the 121st laureate overall and the 18th female recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature. It has been 12 years since an Asian received the Nobel Prize in Literature, following Chinese novelist Mo Yan in 2012. Since the Nobel Prize award ceremony began to be held in the Concert Hall in 1926, this is the first time a Korean has stepped on the 'Blue Carpet' laid there.