An English translation of Kim Soom's 2016 novel "Han Myong" (one person), the first South Korean novel centered on so-called "comfort women" — those who suffered under Japan's military brothel system before and during World War II — has been released this month as the issue continues to cast a shadow on bilateral relations.
Kim's novel, published under the English title "One Left" by veteran husband-and-wife translators Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton, draws on testimony from numerous former comfort women to depict the trauma of abduction and seven years of captivity in a Japanese military brothel as recalled by the protagonist, a Korean woman in her 90s.
"Bruce and I decided (Kim) is the bravest author so far for this issue and we must translate it," Ju-Chan said, noting that the novel's frame narrative in contemporary South Korea makes it an "approachable" work "for the present and the future" rather than one focused solely on the past.