Court bans sale of UN chief’s biography

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon’s biography “Study like a Fool, Dream like a Prodigy”

The Seoul Western District Court has banned the sale of an “unauthorized revised edition” of the best-selling biography about U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, upholding the original writer’s claim to copyright.

On Monday, the court granted an injunction to Shin Woong-jin, author of “Study like a Fool, Dream like a Prodigy,” who claimed that the publishing company Myungjin Books published a revised edition under a different author’s name without his consent.

The judiciary compared the two editions of the book and found that 74 parts of the entire book including sections on Ban’s note-taking habits and the story of his marriage had been replicated in the second one.

It consequently banned the printing, binding, sales and distribution of the revised edition as well as ordering the collection of the new books in storage. The second book went on sale on June 4.

The original by Shin was published by Myungjin in January 2007 as Ban became secretary general of the U.N. and instantly become a national bestseller.

Shin had expressed his intention not to renew his contract with the publisher last August and instead published a revised and enlarged edition with a different company, Crayonhouse, last January.

Myungjin however, had hired another writer Kim Eui-shik and published the revised book. Shin filed for an injunction against Kim on June 15 for copying his work after the book went on sale.

The book topped the sales list of “role model” books, becoming a must-read for students aspiring to become diplomats or workers in international organizations such as the U.N.

It had been a steady seller as Ban was re-elected for a second term as secretary general in June last year. <The Korea Times/Kim Bo-eun>

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