Korean resonated in the banquet hall of the 2024 Nobel Prize ceremony.
On the 10th (local time), at Stockholm City Hall in Sweden, a Swedish student presenter introduced Han Kang in broken Korean. The presenter said in Korean, “It is an honor to introduce this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature laureate.” This was not part of the pre-distributed program cue sheet and was a surprise Korean introduction.
Previously, at the awards ceremony held at the Stockholm Concert Hall, it was initially planned to introduce Han Kang in Korean, but this was canceled at the last minute. This moment consoled those who may have been disappointed by the cancellation.
Ellen Mattson, a lifetime Commissioner representing the Swedish Academy, was scheduled to deliver the speech in Swedish and then say the last two sentences in Korean. However, considering that awkward Korean pronunciation might disrupt the ceremony's atmosphere, the Korean part was changed to English.
The Swedish Academy, as an institution that pursues the development of the Swedish language, typically delivers speeches in Swedish. However, the last part has sometimes been in the recipient’s native language, which has mostly been Western languages. Commissioner Mattson's decision to forego Korean is interpreted as due to the unfamiliarity with East Asian languages.
In 2022, when French writer Annie Ernaux and in 2019, Austrian author Peter Handke received their awards, the Academy delivered the last sentence entirely in French and German, respectively. Similarly, in 2006, when Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk was awarded, the presenter spoke the entire last sentence in Turkish.
When Chinese novelist Mo Yan, from Asia, received the award in 2012, the entire speech was read in Swedish, with only Mo Yan’s name called in Chinese.