Following Sexual Harassment Allegations, Ko Un Loses Defamation Suit

Once his name circulated as a choice for the Nobel, but now poet Ko Un's name is more likely to appear in conversations surrounding the accusations of sexual harassment against him. Today, Channel News Asia reports Ko Un has lost a defamation suit that was brought against fellow writer Choi Young-mi.

Ko Un, an 85-year-old former Buddhist monk, was one of the country's most respected contemporary poets until allegations of sexual misconduct towards junior writers surfaced last year amid the #MeToo movement.

One of those young writers was Choi Young-mi, who suggested the revered poet had a dark side, in a poem titled Monster, published in December 2017.

In it, Choi described the sexual harassment she suffered at the hands of a poet named "En".

"Don't sit next to En/the poet 'K' advised me, a literary novice/He touches young women whenever he sees one," Choi's poem begins.

While she did not explicitly identify "En" as Ko Un in her poem or in a subsequent television interview, South Korean media and commentators concluded the two were identical.

Read on at Channel News Asia for further details about the case.