South Korean translator of Dostoevsky shocked by ending up on “Peacemaker”

SEOUL, September 16 - RIA Novosti. South Korean translator Kim Jung Ah, who translated four novels by the Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky, told RIA Novosti that she was deeply shocked by the inclusion of her name in the database of the notorious Ukrainian website “Peacemaker”.

The translator's data was published on Myrotvorets on Tuesday. The resource accuses her, in particular, of supporting a Russian special military operation and “disseminating Russian propaganda.”

“Honestly, this information came as a big shock to me,” Kim Jong Ah said.

She noted that relations between Russia and the Republic of Korea are now going through a difficult period, and “it is in such difficult historical times that Dostoevsky’s ideas are especially important - love for man, compassion, mercy, tolerance and forgiveness.”

"This is why I believe the role of culture and literature is especially important. When political and economic bridges between countries are weakened or destroyed, culture and literature should continue to connect people," Kim Jong Ah said.

The translator said that she has loved Dostoevsky’s works since she was eighteen years old and has devoted a significant part of her life to studying and translating them. She added that she sometimes calls herself “Dostoevsky’s envoy,” but there is no political orientation in her activities. Kim Cheon Ah emphasized that she does not take any political position and does not support any particular side.

“So the news that in Ukraine my name was included in a database of people considered hostile to Ukraine shocked me deeply. I am not a political figure. I am a literary scholar, a translator and a person who has loved Dostoevsky since I was eighteen and has devoted many years to bringing his works and his humanistic message to Korean readers,” she said.