Korea’s Ghostwriting Scandal

By Carmen 

Looks like the publishing industry here wasn’t the only one to feel the scandal pitch. The Korea Times updates folks on the year that was in their publishing world, focusing on two particular ghostwriting-related scandals. First, the translated version of DON’T EAT THE MARSHMELLOW…YET! topped bestseller lists for 9 months, seemingly translated by popular television announcer Jung Ji-young. Then Internet media outlet OhMyNews revealed that Jung’s role was virtually limited to lending her name for the publicity, and she had no part in the book’s translation.

Then the news that Jemma Han, another TV presenter as well as an artist, likely had at least four books ghostwritten. Her publisher was quick to defend, saying that the use of a helping writer was always known, but I guess in Korea, not writing your own books is still considered scandalous…