KOREA FOUNDATION

1. Please send a word of greeting to Korean literature fans at home and abroad.

As the Literature Translation Institute of Korea (LTI Korea) commemorates the 25th anniversary of its founding, I feel both honor and a grave sense of responsibility in becoming president of the institute. About five months have passed since I took office, and I believe LTI Korea will be able to leap even further forward as my career experience as a poet, a researcher of literature, and an arts administrator joins forces with the expertise and communication skills of LTI Korea executives and staff members.

2. Upon taking office as president last May, you said you would open a “chapter of Korean literature as world literature or as literature read by the world.” Could you elaborate on this?

I would like to go beyond the notion of “globalizing” or promoting Korean literature overseas by confidently establishing it as a member of world literature.
Literature forms the origin and essence of all artistic and cultural content as well as the topographic map of life in an era or for a group, and therefore, it can wholly and laterally convey the culture of one community to another. Korean literature embodies this value in varied, dynamic ways and LTI Korea plays a pivotal role in helping it take root as a form of literature read by world citizens. Franz Kafka once said, “A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us.” I think Korean literature can assume this role.

The 2021 Seoul International Writers’ Festival (Writers in Conversation: Yun Ko-eun and Lee Miye)

3. Korean literature seems to have made vigorous headway overseas in the past few years. LTI Korea must have played a considerable part in this. How has LTI Korea supported Korean literature’s entry into the global arena?

LTI Korea supports the translation and publication of Korean literature, publicizes it to overseas readers, and facilitates international literary exchange and educational training programs for professional translators. The institute also enhances the accessibility of Korean literature to readers in various language areas by distributing translation and publication support to publishers who purchase copyrights of Korean literary works and by helping noted publishers produce series on Korean culture globally. By participating in or being the guest of honor at international book festivals, campaigning for literary magazines around the world to publish special editions on Korean literature, and holding the Seoul International Writers’ Festival, LTI Korea has expanded opportunities for writers, translators, publishers, researchers, and readers everywhere to encounter Korean literature. It makes Korean literature accessible to non-Korean readers by producing PR materials using Korean literature-based original content and new media such as audio books, e-books and book trailers of Korean literary works published abroad. Last but not least, the LTI Korea Translation Academy is building a solid foundation for the systematic global introduction of Korean literature by discovering and training future translators of Korean literature around the world.

Sohn Won-pyung’s Almond, which won the Japan Booksellers' Award in the translated fiction category in 2020

Yun Ko-eun’s The Disaster Tourist, which won the Dagger Award in the Translation Dagger category in 2021

4. The most important role of the Translation Academy you just mentioned must be achieving high quality translation. Could you elaborate on its role?

Translation is not the simple rendering of words from one language into another, but the transfer of one culture to another and the movement from one epistemic space to another. When this transfer is successful, a translation becomes the object of epistemic interest and results in impact and acceptance—the LTI and the Daesan Foundation have long exerted great efforts to these ends. The translation of Korean literature has achieved splendid growth and development through three phases. It began mostly as the task of Korean translators well versed in foreign languages, a trend that lasted until the early 1990s. Then, until the 2010s, it was the joint effort of Korean translators skilled at foreign languages and non-Koreans with a comprehensive understanding of the Korean language and culture. Since then and through today, Korean literary works are mostly translated by native speakers of foreign languages who are good at Korean. Excellent translations started to come out in the second phase, as Korean and non-Korean translators started to work together. In recent years, native speakers of foreign languages who have studied Korean language and literature, including second-generation and third-generation Korean immigrants in other countries, have begun to translate Korean literature in great numbers, raising the quality of translation and the number of translators, earning many international literary prizes, and drawing keen attention from mass media abroad. The demand for excellent translators will further increase in the days ahead in order to bring not only literature but many other Korean cultural works such as webtoons, K- dramas, and movies to the center of world culture in the wake of Hallyu. LTI Korea’s main role is to discover competent translators, provide them with systematic education and training, and support their continued work in related fields. To achieve this goal, we plan to enhance the Translation Academy’s educational scope to that of a graduate university.

5. What literary works have been introduced overseas with LTI Korea support, and which were particularly received well by readers abroad?

As of the end of last year, a total of 1,511 works in 40 languages have been introduced around the world over 25 years, and even more will be published in the coming days. A yearly average of 200 requests for LTI Korea support for the translation and publication of Korean works are filed by publishers around the world who have signed contracts for copyright purchases. This number is also likely to increase. In the 1990s, works by Yi Chong-jun and Yi Mun-yol emerged on top of the translation list, and in the 2000s, works by Ko Un, Lee Seung-u, and Shin Kyung-sook rose to the top as well. In the 2010s, before and after Han Kang won the Man Booker International Prize for fiction, more and younger writers from diverse genres received small and large literary prizes, translation awards, and recognition from international media; these include Kim Young-ha, Jeong You-jeong, Cho Nam-joo, Pyun Hye-young, Kim Yeonsu, Kim Hyesoon, Yun Ko-eun, Kim Yi-deum, and Chung Serang.

6. As you said earlier, LTI Korea celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. Today, where do you think the institute is headed? Do you have any specific goals or tasks in mind?

Korean literature has gained global attention as “K-literature” or “literary Hallyu.” Based on its past 25 years of achievement, LTI Korea is preparing to leap into the next 25 years. At the moment, we are in the process of working out a new identity and direction for the institute, with a corresponding new vision and tasks. Among these, the most major are the construction and operation of a global platform for Korean literature, including a lasting platform for Korean literature copyright transactions; the establishment of a graduate university specializing in translation; the continued support for translation of Korean-language content and the education and training of translators; and the development and implementation of Korean literature export strategies customized to match the varying degrees of receptiveness in different countries and regions. Pursuing these goals and tasks, LTI Korea will strive to enhance its expertise and competitiveness while keeping its finger on the pulse of the changing cultural environment and remaining steadfastly loyal to its fundamental goal to introduce Korean literature and culture abroad.

▲ LTI Korea Website http://www.ltikorea.or.kr

▲ President Kwak Hyo-hwan
- Former managing director, Daesan Foundation, 2015–2021
- Member, Literature Promotion Policy Committee, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
- Poetry Collections: The Indio Woman (2006), The House Not Found on a Map (2010), The Frame of Sorrow (2014), You Are (2018)
- Research Papers: “A Study on Overseas Introduction of Korean Literature” (1998), “The Current Status and Tasks of Overseas Introduction of Korean Literature” (2002), “Looking into Asian Cultural Contents: Current Status and Possibilities” (2009), “The Globalizing Experience and Direction in Korean Literary Contents Since 2000” (2011)
- Awards: The 30th Kim Daljin Literary Prize for Poetry (2019), the 25th Pyeon-un Literature Award (2015), the 14th Yushim Literature Prize for Poetry (2014), the 11th Aeji Literary Award (2013)