Racy Novel Is Shelved For Using Real Names

Writers cannot publish their works if they defame friends or close acquaintances by giving their fictional character the same names, the Seoul District Court ruled Friday.

The court supported a complaint by a man identified only as Mr Kim, against the author of "Cyber Sex that is Deeper than Death" － a sexually explicit novel written by a close colleague, Mr. Chang.

Mr Kim found that one of the novel's unsavory characters in Mr. Chang's book was given his name and claimed that this harmed his reputation.

The court agreed.

"We decided to prohibit sales of the novel," the judge said, "since Mr. Chang, the author, used the real name and the computer ID of the plaintiff, who is a close acquaintance, in the sexually explicit novel. By doing that, Mr. Chang disgraced the plaintiff's pride and dignity."

Mr. Chang's novel describes love affairs between members of a computer club.

"Nobody has complained since I first published my novel serially on the Internet three years ago, and I also got permission from the people before using their names," Mr. Chang said.

"It's very unfair that I've fallen into this situation just because I released my cyber-novel in the form of a book," he added.

by Lee Kyong-hee