An article posted by Minjung Kim. Facebook capture
Kim Min-jung, the author of the novel’Root’, who won the Baekma Culture Award in 2018, raised the question that a man who copied his novel as it was won in five literary competitions. In fact, the novel submitted by this man “replicates” Kim’s’roots’. The letter K and the comma used in the character’s name are the same.
On the 16th, writer Kim revealed through his Facebook report that the entire text of the novel’Root’ was stolen without permission, and that the person who stole was awarded in five literary competitions in 2020.
According to him,’theft works’ “conducts the novel from beginning to end as it is, beyond the level of plagiarism with similar phrases and paragraphs.” In addition, the ’16th Four Seasons Kim Jang-saeng Literature Award’ Newcomer Award, ‘2020 Pocheon 38 Literature Award’ Grand Prize,’The 7th Gyeongbuk Ilbo Literature Competition’ honorable work,’The 2nd Glory Senior New Year Literature’, quarterly magazine’Novel Aesthetics’ 2021 Won the New Year’s Rookie of the Year Award. This man plagiarized the title and submitted it to the literary award as’root’, and only changed the title to’dream’ for some literary awards.
The’roots’ stolen work published in a literary quarterly magazine. I copied Kim’s novel as it is. Facebook capture
Part of the’roots’ of Kim Min-jung. Myeongdae newspaper capture
Kim emphasized that “literature is a genre in which the suspicion of plagiarism arises just by the similarity of a few lines of sentences.” That’s why the work was stolen, he said, “The whole feeling and thoughts in the life I have built up have been stolen by others.” He repeatedly emphasized that “What I was stolen was not a piece of print, but a text like my alter ego.”
At the same time, the organizers of the Literary Awards, who decided to win the award without minimal review, also criticized it.
Kim said, “Not only the ethical consciousness of the individual contributors, but also ethical consciousness in the management of the literary awards is necessary.” He raised the question, “The text is posted online, and even if you just google the sentence, the full text (of’root’) comes out. This suggests the absence of even the minimum guidelines for examining plagiarism and theft in literature. did.
The Baekma Culture Award is a literary contest organized by the Myeongdae Newspaper of Myongji University and held for university students and students on leave of absence. The winning works will be published in the Myeongdae newspaper, and you can read the original text just by searching, as in the writings of Kim.
Meanwhile, a man who stole Kim’s novel has also appeared in the press as a person who has won many literary awards. After receiving the Quarterly Journal Literature Award, he said, “I did not major in Korean literature or creative writing at university, and I have no in-depth knowledge about novels, but I am writing novels every night, quenching my literary thirst and having great pride.” Through it, I want to live a more vibrant and meaningful life.”
After Kim raised the issue, there are suspicions online that the man used not only novels, but also various photographs, ideas, and book review contests, and submitted and received other people’s creations.
Reporter Juhee Hong [email protected]