'K-Literature' Overseas Sales Top 1.2 Million Copies for Second Straight Year; Han Kang Leads

Korean literature has achieved a significant milestone, with overseas sales surpassing 1.2 million copies for the second year in a row, indicating sustained global interest. The Korean Literature Translation Institute (LTI) reported that books supported by its translation and publication initiatives sold approximately 1.197 million copies in the past year across 40 language regions.

This achievement builds on previous success, as the cumulative sales for the five years from 2021 to 2025 have reached 3.58 million copies, an increase of 900,000 copies compared to the preceding five-year period. The LTI's data, gathered from direct surveys of overseas publishers, indicates that 1,026 titles were published with support during this period. Of these, 884 titles provided responses, representing 86% of the total.

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Two years in a row, overseas sales have maintained 1.2 million copies, and the number of supported publications has exceeded 1,000 in the last five years. This shows that the overseas expansion of Korean literature is not a temporary phenomenon but is occurring on a sustainable reader base.

Author Han Kang's works, including "I Do Not Bid Farewell" and "The Greek Lessons," have emerged as the bestsellers, with "I Do Not Bid Farewell" alone selling around 300,000 copies across 13 countries over three years. Other notable successes include Hwang Bo-reum's "Welcome, Ms. Bok-soon" in its Turkish translation, which sold nearly 70,000 copies last year and over 160,000 since its 2023 release. The popularity of "feel-good" Korean novels, often referred to as "K-healing" or "fil-good" novels, continues, alongside growing international interest in diverse themes and genres.

Expanding beyond popular genres, works like Jeong Ji-a's "Father's Liberation Diary" have sold nearly 20,000 copies in Chinese, and Kim Geum-sook's graphic novel "Grass: A Living History, Testimony of the Comfort Women" has sold over 60,000 copies in Spanish since its 2022 release. LTI President Jeon Sook-yong emphasized that the consistent sales figures demonstrate a sustainable reader base for Korean literature abroad. The institute plans to enhance its strategic translation and publication support to further promote Korean literary works globally.

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We will continue to strengthen strategic translation and publication support.