Han Kang to attend the Pony Chung Innovation Award ceremony

Novelist Han Kang will make her first public appearance since winning the Nobel Prize for Literature on Thursday at the Pony Chung Innovation Award ceremony.

According to the publishing community, Han Kang expressed her intention to attend the Pony Chung Innovation Award ceremony through a publishing company. The Pony Chung Foundation (Chairman Chung Mong-kyu) selected Han on September 19 as the recipient of the 18th Pony Chung Innovation Award. Founded in 2005 in honor of the late HDC Group Honorary Chairman Chung Se-yung, the foundation supports activities in the humanities. The awards ceremony will be held at 5 p.m. on Thursday at Pony Chung Hall, IPARK Tower in Gangnam-gu, Seoul.

“I will attend the Pony Chung Innovation Award ceremony because it was already scheduled,” Han told a publishing company official on Monday morning. “We haven’t heard anything about her not attending, so we believe it's proceeding as planned,” a foundation official stated. Now that Han has confirmed her attendance, she is expected to deliver a more detailed acceptance speech and share updates on her recent activities. “I think the ceremony could serve as a de facto venue for her Nobel Prize acceptance speech,” said a publishing industry insider.


이호재기자 hoho@donga.com