Seo Hyun-beom's novel "Dotted Line," has been selected as the winner of the 49th Today's Writer Award.
Minumsa announced the decision Wednesday, saying it was reached after judging seven works that passed the preliminary screening out of a total of 415 submissions. The final judging panel comprised novelists Lee Eung-jun, Kim Soom, and Kim Ki-chang, along with literary critics Park Hye-jin and Jeon Cheong-rim.
"Dotted Line," is set in North Korea in the 2000s, when jangmadang (informal markets) became part of daily life and South Korean content began flowing in, just after the "Arduous March" period marked by the worst food shortages. Centered on Hoeryong, a border area between North Korea and China, the novel depicts the lives of the protagonist "Kang-man," a border guard soldier, his colleagues, and people who risk their lives crossing the border.
The judges praised the work for addressing the reality of North Korea while raising fundamental questions about human existence, without relying on ideological or religious propaganda or sentimentalism. Kim Ki-chang, a judge and novelist, commented that it is "a work that proves, through layered narrative, how and to what extent states and systems created by humans can degrade human existence."
"As I turned 40 last year, I resolved to write a novel because I wanted to tell a story," Seo said in his acceptance remarks. "I am so glad it will be read, and I sincerely thank the readers who will read it and connect with it." Seo currently lives in New Jersey in the United States, where he balances his corporate career with his writing.
The winning author receives a prize of 30 million won, and the winning work is scheduled to be published within this year as part of the "Today's Young Writers" series.
