▲ Author Han Kang speaks with Korean reporters during a press conference in Avignon, France, on July 15 (local time).
Nobel Laureate in Literature Han Kang said on July 15 (local time) that while the deepening hatred in South Korea and around the world is a "task we must overcome," the growing social consensus to recognize it as a problem is a sign of hope.
Meeting with Korean reporters at the 80th Avignon Festival in France, Han said, "How we can overcome the issue of hatred is an important task for us," adding, "It is time for us to think together about how to change course and move in a different direction in this era of hatred."
She continued, "The very fact that we recognize hatred as a problem is a very good thing," and added, "If we share the consensus that hatred is not natural but a problem, I think there is hope in that."
Han viewed this issue of hatred as being connected to the recent controversy involving the Paichai High School baseball team.
On June 29, some players from the Paichai High School baseball team were criticized for mocking the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement by chanting slogans such as "Let's go, let's go, let's go to Starbucks" and "Tank Day" during a game against Gwangju Jeil High School.
"Teacher friends in the education field are also deeply concerned about this issue," Han said. "They are contemplating questions like, 'What can we do?' and 'As the older generation, how did we end up failing like this?'"
She emphasized, "When such significant incidents occur, we must not simply let them pass by in a state of shock and surprise," adding, "If this incident is sending us a signal, we must properly grasp the problem that has surfaced and put our heads together to think about how to move forward."
She also expressed her view that individual incidents should not just be consumed as news, stating, "It is not good for one shock to be covered up by another, and for that next shock to be covered up by the previous one, just being swept away."
This was Han's first public Q&A session with the Korean press since the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature ceremony.
"Honestly, it was burdensome," she confessed. "That is why I lived in seclusion for a while, but now that the attention seems to have subsided, my heart feels a bit lighter."
The Avignon Festival organizing committee selected Korean as an official guest language this year to mark the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and France, and invited Han to hold an "Author's Talk" on July 12.
In particular, the festival included an Italian play based on Han's novel "We Do Not Part," which deals with the Jeju April 3 Incident, and a reading performance titled "Bird" by a French director in its official program.
At the reading performance held on the night of July 15 at the Cour d'honneur of the Palais des papes, the most iconic venue of the Avignon Festival, French actor Isabelle Huppert and Korean actor Lee Hye-young played the characters Gyeong-ha and In-seon, respectively, delivering monologues and dialogues in both French and Korean.
At the end of the performance, Han made a surprise appearance on stage and calmly read the latter part of the novel, which describes the horrors of the Jeju April 3 Incident and the massacres of civilians before and after the Korean War.
In a press conference held before the performance, Han said of the reading, "If reading a book is a very personal experience, a performance is a shared experience," adding, "It is a stage where you can savor not only the senses and emotions created by the sentences but also the voices, movements, and expressions of the actors."
She added, "The sentences I conceived and the musical elements the actors interpret and project through their bodies are different. It is meaningful in that those who have only read 'We Do Not Part' as a book can experience the work in a different way."
French audience members who watched the performance expressed surprise at the tragic history of Korea that they had not known before and showered the actors with praise.
Catherine, a woman in her 50s, said, "It is a very beautiful piece of writing, but at the same time, it is a very heartbreaking historical story. I did not know Korea had such a history. After watching this play, I want to read the book myself."
Florian said, "I was completely captivated. The story of the friendship between the two women was particularly impressive, and I have become interested in Jeju Island, which served as the setting for the play."
The reading performance of "We Do Not Part" is scheduled to meet domestic audiences at the Seoul Performing Arts Festival (SPAF) this coming October.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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