Shin Kyung-sook, author of the best-selling novel "Please Look After Mom," has been sued on allegations that she plagiarized a work published nearly two decades ago, prosecutors said Friday.

Hyun Tac-soo, a local university professor in literature, has filed a complaint with the Seoul Central Prosecutors' Office against Shin on fraud charges.

Hyun claimed that Shin's "Legend," a short story collection published in 1996, partly plagiarized the Korean translation of "Patriotism" by the late Japanese writer Yukio Mishima.

Prosecutors said it will soon make a decision on whether to launch an investigation.

Shin has denied the allegation.

She is one of the most popular novelists in Korea.

About 2 million copies of the Korean version of "Please Look After Mom" were sold in Korea after it was published in 2008.

It was translated into English and released in the U.S. last year and a Slovenian version of the novel is set to be published in the Balkan states. (Yonhap)