When Han Kang won the Nobel Prize in Literature in October last year, her books flew off the shelves, and South Korea’s publishing industry saw a rare surge.
But within a month, the momentum had faded.
According to Statistics Korea, book publishing output in October 2024 rose 2.8 percent from a year earlier, breaking a nine-month slump. Online bookstore sales also soared, jumping 18 percent compared with the same month in the previous year, according to data from BC Card, one of South Korea’s leading credit card issuers.
Yes24, a major online bookseller, reported on Oct. 18 that its literature sales — including novels and poetry — climbed 49.3 percent from Oct. 10 to 16 compared with the same period a year earlier, following Han Kang’s win. The company noted that this growth rate excludes Han’s works, suggesting that readers purchased other literary books while ordering hers, boosting overall sales.
Yet by November the surge had collapsed, and the industry was back in decline. Publishing output fell 11.1 percent compared with November 2023, the steepest drop in nearly two years.
Industry insiders attribute the abrupt end of this brief literary renaissance to weak consumer spending and political turmoil — including the declaration of martial law in December — which further dampened demand.
