The Yi Sang Literary Award Scandal Spreads... Authors Kim Geum-hee, Choi Eun-young, and Lee Ki-ho Refuse Award

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] The Yi Sang Literary Award, which boasts the prestige of a leading domestic literary award alongside the 'Hyundai Literary Award' and the 'Dong-in Literary Award,' is facing its greatest crisis since its establishment in 1977.

This is because the winners of the 44th Yi Sang Literary Award this year have been consecutively refusing the award.

Writers Kim Geum-hee, Choi Eun-young, and Lee Ki-ho, who were selected as recipients of the Excellence Award this year, have expressed their refusal to accept the award, citing their inability to accept the requirement to transfer the copyright of their awarded works to the Yi Sang Literary Award organizer, Literature and Thought, for three years.

On the 4th, writer Kim Geum-hee wrote on her social media (SNS), "I was selected as a nominee for an award (Excellence Award) and received a contract regarding including the work in the award collection, but after reviewing it, I had no choice but to say I could not allow its publication. This is because it stated that the copyright of that short story would be 'transferred' to the relevant publisher for three years." She added that she raised issues because she was also prohibited from using the awarded work as the title piece in her own collection.

Following Kim Geum-hee's announcement of her refusal to accept the award, Literature and Thought urgently canceled the Yi Sang Literary Award winners' announcement press conference scheduled for the 6th on the morning of the same day. A representative from Literature and Thought stated, "We need time to organize our position regarding the refusal of the award," and added, "We will reschedule the announcement soon and notify accordingly."

In addition to Kim Geum-hee, other Excellence Award recipients Choi Eun-young and Lee Ki-ho are also reported to have refused the award for the same reason. There are five Excellence Award winners this year, and three of them have refused the award. It has become uncertain whether the Yi Sang Literary Award collection, which is published annually compiling the Grand Prize and Excellence Award-winning works, will be published this year.

The problematic clause regarding the three-year copyright transfer and prohibition on using the awarded work as the title piece is known to have been applied starting from the 43rd Yi Sang Literary Award last year.

The Yi Sang Literary Award was established in 1977 by former Minister of Culture and founder of Literature and Thought, Lee O-ryeong, to honor the outstanding achievements and spirit of novelist Yi Sang.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.