Meet Korean writer Kim Young Ha

Having a father who fought in Vietnam, Kim Young Ha has a deep connection to Vietnam, especially during the war. Vietnam was the first country his father visited, and he brought back many items bearing the mark of that country. Vietnam also shares many similarities with Korea, having gone through a period similar to Vietnam's pre-liberation era, with its own national liberation movements. He is very happy that his work has been translated into Vietnamese and published for a wide readership in the country he only recently got to know through his novel "White Shirts of Saigon".

Korean writer Kim Young Ha at the exchange event/Photo: Jackie Chan

As a writer who has experienced both war and peace, he is acutely aware of the differences between the scenes of these two periods. Deep within him are the traces of the poor young soldier in the photographs of the dead buffalo, contrasting with the image of modern youth today. Kim Young Ha believes that present-day Vietnam has changed significantly compared to the Vietnam his father encountered or the image depicted in "White Shirts of Saigon." In particular, he finds similarities between his works on the sadness of peacetime and Bao Ninh's "The Sadness of War." Both reflect a raw and vivid portrayal of contemporary life, where economic growth is accompanied by stagnation in the lives of young people. One of the negative consequences of modern life reflected in his literature is suicide, as seen in his work "I Have the Right to Destroy Myself."

Finally, through literature, Kim Young Ha wanted to convey two messages. First, Korean culture exists not only in music and film, which are readily apparent, but also in literature. What we see in literature will be very different from what we see in television dramas. Second, literature will serve as a bridge to bring the two cultures together through the writer's pen, helping to dispel illusions and misunderstandings, opening up new horizons for a more comprehensive understanding of contemporary culture. This is also a viewpoint shared and agreed upon by writer Bao Ninh and all the listeners.

Kim Young Ha is a renowned South Korean writer whose works have won numerous national awards and are widely read in South Korea and dozens of countries around the world. He has been featured in various magazines.MoonjiHe is considered "one of the leading young authors in 21st-century Korean literature." One of his famous works, translated into Vietnamese, is "What Happens, Who Knows?".