Cha In-pyo lectures at Oxford on his book selected as required reading

Actor and author Cha In-pyo's novel about comfort women—women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces—has been designated as required reading at Oxford University in the United Kingdom. Cha met with readers at an event in the U.K.

The University of Oxford hosted its first annual Korean Literature Night on Friday (local time). The annual event, which starts this year, invites emerging Korean writers to share their literary world in person. Locally, the event was led by Korean linguistics professor Jieun Kiaer from the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies.

Cha In-pyo is the author of three novels: "Today's Forecast" (2011), "Once We Look at the Same Star," (2021) and "Mermaid Hunting" (2022). "Once We Look at the Same Star," a retitled reprint of his first novel, "Farewell Hill," published in 2009, addresses the issue of comfort women during the Japanese occupation. It tells the story of grandmother Suni, who is found on a small island in the Philippines 70 years after leaving her homeland.

In his lecture, Cha introduced his literary world centered on "Someday...". "When I started writing, I was full of anger about the comfort women issue, but I realized that I couldn't write with only negative emotions. I gradually thought about how to tell my children about the issue of comfort women," he said. The story was inspired by grandmother Hoon, who was taken to Cambodia as a military comfort woman, and it took him 10 years to write.

Cha's wife, Shin Ae-ra, also traveled to England with him. "My husband's novel has been selected as required reading at Oxford University," Shin Ae-ra said on social media on Sunday, "Starting next semester, (Cha's novel) will be used as a textbook in the Korean Studies department and will be available in all libraries at Oxford University."


김소민 기자 somin@donga.com