PHOTOS; Novelist Han Kang becomes South Korea's first Nobel literature laureate

SEOUL, October 11 (AJP) - Korean novelist Han Kang, 53, has become the first Korean writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Swedish Academy announced on Oct. 10, 2024, that Han Kang was selected for the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature. They cited her "intense poetic prose that confronts historical trauma and reveals the fragility of human life." Han Kang is the second Korean to win a Nobel Prize, following former President Kim Dae-jung's Peace Prize in 2000.

The news sparked a surge in book sales. Within half a day of the announcement, over 60,000 copies were sold at bookseller Kyobo Book Centre and more than 70,000 at Yes24. Han Kang's works occupied the top nine spots on the real-time bestseller list. Major bookstores in Seoul were crowded with customers from the morning of Oct. 11, 2024.

Han Kang, the first Korean author to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Yonhap

Citizens browse books by Han Kang, Nobel Prize in Literature laureate, at Kyobo book centre in Seoul on Oct. 11, 2024. Yonhap

Han Jun-gu 영상사진기자 jungu141298@ajupress.com

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