Literary Thought Apologizes for Isang Literary Award Incident: "Deeply Responsible... Will Reborn"

"Complete Correction of Contract Agreement Issues with Controversial Awardees; No Literary Award Announcement This Year"
"Breaking Old Customs and Reborn Anew... Striving to Become a Literary History Desired by Readers and Writers"

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] Munhak Sasang announced an apology regarding last month's refusal of the Lee Sang Literary Award by this year’s recipients and stated that it will completely revise the contract terms with the awardees that caused the controversy.

On the 4th, Munhak Sasang released a statement under the name of CEO Lim Ji-hyun, saying, "Munhak Sasang seriously recognizes the problems that occurred during the 44th Lee Sang Literary Award process and all related circumstances, and feels deep responsibility. We sincerely apologize first to everyone who was hurt and disappointed by this incident. We also apologize for greatly disappointing readers who love books and literature. We are sorry."

Munhak Sasang continued, "We announce that we will fully revise the contract terms with the Lee Sang Literary Award recipients that have become problematic. We will revise and supplement the detailed clauses related to the copyright of the Lee Sang Literary Award-winning works to the fullest extent, respecting the flow of the times, the wishes of literary readers, and the intentions of the authors," emphasizing their commitment.

This year’s Lee Sang Literary Award Excellence Prize winners Kim Geum-hee, Choi Eun-young, and Lee Ki-ho announced last month that they would refuse the award. The reason was their inability to accept Munhak Sasang’s demand that "the copyright of the winning works be transferred to the publisher for three years and that the authors cannot feature the winning works as the title piece in their personal short story collections." On the 31st of last month, last year’s grand prize winner Yoon Yi-hyung announced via her social media (SNS) that she had belatedly realized the unfairness and injustice of the Lee Sang Literary Award and declared she would permanently cease her literary activities.

As a concrete measure to revise and supplement the problematic copyright clauses of the winning works, Munhak Sasang explained that ▲ they will prioritize gathering opinions from previous Lee Sang Literary Award winners and reflect them in new contracts through deliberation and discussion, and ▲ they will correct the "three-year copyright transfer" of the grand prize-winning works to "one-year publication rights setting" and will also lift the title piece restriction one year after the award.

They asked for understanding that the one-year publication rights setting and the one-year title piece restriction are the minimum unavoidable measures necessary for operating the Lee Sang Literary Award. However, they added that they will listen to the opinions of authors and readers regarding these measures and strive to achieve more desirable and wise outcomes.

Munhak Sasang apologized to all authors and readers for the incident, expressing regret for the long time taken to announce their position after the event and for attempting to evade responsibility by blaming it on "staff mistakes." They also clarified that this incident arose from the company’s entrenched bad practices and the inadequacy of the management team, and above all, the biggest problem was a lack of awareness regarding copyright.

Munhak Sasang admitted that they operated the Lee Sang Literary Award without recognizing the spirit of the times and the sensitivities demanded by the era, and expressed their resolve going forward. They emphasized, "We admit and reflect that we favored familiarity over novelty. We will break away from bad practices, cultivate sensitivity to even the smallest voices, and through thorough reflection, strive to become a Munhak Sasang that readers and authors desire with a humbler attitude."

Finally, Munhak Sasang announced, "After long consideration, we have decided not to announce the Lee Sang Literary Award this year," and expressed deep apologies to the authors who presented excellent works throughout 2019 and to the readers who eagerly awaited the Lee Sang Literary Award winning collections. They added, "We will restore the prestige of the Lee Sang Literary Award and willingly accept sincere criticism and advice regarding the award collections. We ask for much guidance so that the old and declining publishing company can be reborn anew."

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