A local publisher says that South Korean poet Ko Un has been selected as this year’s winner of an Italian award for literature.

Changbi Publishers, which published many of Ko’s poems, said Wednesday that Ko will receive the NordSud International Prize for Literature.

The publisher said that the decision was made with unilateral consent from all jury members, showing Ko’s status in international literature.

The prize was established in 2009 by Italy's Pescara Bruzzo Foundation to encourage dialogue between the cultures and economies of the Northern and Southern hemispheres.