Overseas sales of translated Korean literature reached about 1.2 million copies for the second consecutive year, as the genre's popularity surged following author Han Kang's Nobel Prize in Literature.
The Literature Translation Institute of Korea said on the 29th that overseas sales of Korean literary works supported by its translation and publishing programs totaled 1,197,557 copies last year. The figure rose slightly, by 228 copies, from the previous year, setting a new annual record.
Broadening the scope to the past five years (2021-2025), cumulative sales of 1,026 titles published across 40 language regions reached about 3.58 million copies.
The institute analyzed that the achievements were not limited to the boost from the Nobel Prize win or a handful of talked-about works, but that a broad reader base is being formed based on works published across multiple language regions.
Steady sellers also diversified. A total of 50 translated titles sold more than 5,000 copies last year, of which 28 titles sold more than 10,000 copies. In particular, seven titles established themselves as steady sellers by selling more than 4,000 copies each year for three consecutive years from 2023 to 2025, including the English edition of Nobel laureate Han Kang's "Greek Lessons," the Russian edition of Sohn Won-pyung's "Fox Tail 1 (Spooky Mission Camp)," and the Spanish edition of Keum Suk Gendry-Kim's "Grass."
Also notable was the advance of "healing novels" dealing with themes such as rest and comfort. Six translated editions of Hwang Bo-reum's "Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop" sold about 88,000 copies, while nine translated editions of Kim Ho-yeon's "The Uncanny Convenience Store" sold about 66,000 copies. Yoo Young-kwang's "The Rainfall Store," published in an English edition in 2024, recorded sales of about 16,000 copies in the two years since its release.
Han Kang's "We Do Not Part" also showed remarkable results in long-term cumulative sales. From 2023 to 2025, it sold about 300,000 copies in 13 countries, including the United Kingdom and France, the highest sales figure among the works surveyed. The English edition of "We Do Not Part" also won the National Book Critics Circle Award, one of the most prestigious literary prizes in the United States.
Chun Su-yong, president of the institute, said, "Maintaining overseas sales of 1.2 million copies for two consecutive years, and surpassing 1,000 supported titles published over the past five years, shows that the overseas spread of Korean literature is not a temporary phenomenon but is taking place on a sustainable reader base." She added, "We will continue to strengthen strategic translation and publishing support that reflects reader demand in each language region and the characteristics of the works."
