Man Asian Literary Prize-winning author Shin Kyung-Sook met with public fury after allegations surfaced last week that she had copied a piece by the famed late Japanese author Yukio Mishima.
Seoul literary critic Lee Eung-Jun wrote in an online essay published last week that Shin's 1996 short story "Legend" included paragraphs lifted from "Patriotism" written by Mishima in 1960.
The allegation prompted a storm of controversy, with one civic activist calling for Seoul prosecutors to investigate Shin for fraud.
Last week Shin denied she had read "Patriotism" but according to an interview published today, later admitted the possibility of having plagiarised the material, saying she could no longer trust her memory.
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"I repeatedly compared sentences in both novels...And realised that it was legitimate for people to raise the issue of plagiarism over this," she told Seoul's Kyunghyang newspaper.
"It is all my fault to create a situation like this...I am really sorry," Shin was quoted as saying.
Mishima, a celebrated poet and playwright, was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature three times before his suicide in 1970.
Seoul-based publisher Changbi Publishers will immediately stop printing Shin's book containing the short story, Changbi spokesman Yum Jong-Sun told AFP today.
"Please Look After Mom", a novel focusing on family love, sold over two million copies in Korea and has sold in over 30 countries, becoming a New York Times bestseller after being translated into English in 2011.