A year after Han Kang’s Nobel
Updated : 2025-10-15 12:41:40 KST
A year after Han Kang’s Nobel win, what part does literary translation play in K-literature’s rise?
A year after Han Kang's historic Nobel Prize in Literature, the world's curiosity for Korean stories has only grown. But beyond the words on the page, it's the art of translation that has carried those stories across borders. Our Park Hyo-been has more. It's been a year since Korean author Han Kang became the first South Korean to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Since then, with K‑pop, K‑dramas, and K‑films capturing audiences worldwide, Korean literature has emerged as another key pillar of the K-culture wave , and at the heart of it all is translation.
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"Translation is absolutely vital. Korean isn't a globally common language, so for our literature to reach international readers, translation is the most important bridge." Kwak says that bridge is now being built by a new generation, native‑language translators from around the world drawn by their passion for Korean culture. "Since 2008, our institute has been running a Translation Academy to train translators who can faithfully and fluently convey Korean literature. Each year, about 120 students from seven language regions take part in the program.
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Many of them are so fluent in Korean that you can hardly tell whether they're native speakers or not." "Do you have any specific plans or any goals in terms of making Korean literature more popular in the global market?" "We want to strengthen the translator's entire career path, from newcomers learning under senior mentors to professionals joining dedicated residencies that allow them to focus fully on translation."
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As Korean books gain traction abroad, Kwak notes that global readers are embracing an ever‑wider range of stories, from healing-themed fiction to socially charged novels. "Our next goal is to broaden that reach not only sharing popular titles, but also introducing literary works of high quality and artistic depth that haven't yet been discovered overseas." For Han Kang and other writers, translation has been the key to voice, and as more translators bridge languages and cultures, the world of Korean literature continues to expand beyond borders. Park Hyo‑been, Arirang News.
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영어 원문 출처 및 동영상 링크;
arirang news/Life/Culture
https://m.arirang.com/news/view?id=288083
