SEOUL: South Korea has, in collaboration with the Malaysian National Institute of Translation, translated an old Malaysian novel Nyawa di Hujung Pedang (Life at the Edge of a Sword) by Ahmad Murad Nasaruddin.
The novel will be on sale in the republic from today.
The book, first published in 1944, was launched by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin at the Paju Book City, about 50km from Seoul.
The first 1,000 copies that were published on Tuesday will be sold at 10,000 Won (RM30) each.
The novel by Ahmad Murad, who died on Aug 12, 1974, is set against the backdrop of life in a 1940s Malaya occupied by the Japanese.
It revolves around a young man Yazid, who is falsely accused of being a Japanese informer, resulting in his torture and death.
Among reasons the novel became the choice of the South Korean publisher was due to its contents, which shared a similar thread to the Japanese occupation of South Korea.
Muhyiddin, in his speech, said Malaysia would take the Paju Book City concept as an example to set up the Kuala Lumpur Book City in the near future.
Earlier in the afternoon, he was briefed on the South Korean education system which uses the Internet at the South Korean Education and Research Information Service and Hanam Information Industry High School.
