The SNU Center for Contemporary Korean Studies held an international conference titled “Korea as Symptom” over two days, August 22 and 23. As the second session of the conference, the K-Narrative Team organized a panel titled “Queer Representation in Contemporary Korean Fiction” at Youngone Hall, SNU Asia Center. Chaired by Professor Yookyung Son (Seoul National University), the session featured two presentations.

In the first presentation, Professor Seongwoon Kang (Technische Universität Berlin) spoke on “The Utopia of Male Homosexuality in Contemporary Korean Fictions,” examining the idealization of male homosexuality in contemporary Korean BL (Boys’ Love) fiction. In particular, Kang noted that consumers of the BL genre often distinguish it from “queer fiction,” highlighting the gap between representations of same-sex relationships in BL and the lived experiences of LGBTQ+ people. The presentation further explored themes of queer pain and placelessness within these narratives.

Professor Hyejin Oh (Sungkyunkwan University) then presented “Geopolitical Configurations of Korean Queer Narratives and the Stalemate of Global Queer Discourse,” focusing on the process through which Sang Young Park’s Love in the Big City has been adapted across different media. Oh examined how Korean queer narratives intersect with global commercial cinema and OTT streaming dramas, demonstrating the tensions between the politics and aesthetics of Korean queer narratives and the structures of the global media system. The presentation further explored how these tensions are negotiated across different forms of media.

The session focused on how queer identities and experiences are represented in Korean literature and explored the broader social and cultural meanings of these representations. It also provided a meaningful forum for reflecting on the current position of Korean queer literature and its wider social implications.