President Lee Myung-bak has awarded a posthumous medal to Park Wan-sue, a leading South Korean novelist who died of gallbladder cancer on Saturday.

Presidential Chief of Staff Yim Tae-hee delivered the medal and the president’s message of condolence to the family of the novelist.

Park was posthumously awarded the Geumgwan Medal (Gold Crown). The Geumgwan is the highest honor for the Order of Cultural Merit, which is given to those who have rendered meritorious services in the cultural sector.

Lee said Park was as an outstanding and important figure in Korean literature and culture.

He said she will be remembered for her warm and beautiful depiction of the nation’s modern history marked by war, national division and rapid social change.