South Korean poet and novelist Han Kang was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature Thursday for a poetic and unsettling body of work that the Nobel committee said 鈥渃onfronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.鈥�
A slow-burning international literary star who has won multiple awards in Korea and Europe, Han is the first Asian woman and the first South Korean writer to win the Nobel literature prize. She was awarded for books, including 鈥淭he Vegetarian鈥� and 鈥淗uman Acts,鈥� that explore the pain of being human and the scars of Korea鈥檚 turbulent history.
Nobel literature committee member Anna-Karin Palm said Han writes about 鈥渢rauma, pain and loss,鈥� whether individual or collective, 鈥渨ith the same compassion and care.鈥�
鈥淎nd this, I think, is something that is quite remarkable,鈥� Palm said.
Nobel committee chairman Anders Olsson praised Han鈥檚 鈥渆mpathy for the vulnerable, often female lives鈥� of her characters.
鈥淪he has a unique awareness of the connections between body and soul, the living and the dead,鈥� Olsson said.
Han is the second South Korean national to win a Nobel Prize. Late former President Kim Dae-jung won the peace prize in 2000 for his efforts to restore democracy in South Korea during the country鈥檚 previous military rule and improve relations with war-divided rival North Korea.
Han wins the Nobel at a time of growing global influence of South Korean culture, which in recent years has included the success of films like director Bong Joon-ho鈥檚 Oscar-winning 鈥� ,鈥� the Netflix survival drama 鈥淪quid Game鈥� and the worldwide fame of groups like BTS and BLACKPINK.
Han, 53, won the International Booker Prize in 2016 for 鈥淭he Vegetarian,鈥� an unsettling novel in which a woman鈥檚 decision to stop eating meat has devastating consequences.
At the time of winning that award, Han said writing novels 鈥渋s a way of questioning for me.鈥�
鈥淚 just try to complete my questions through the process of my writing and I try to stay in the questions, sometimes painful, sometimes 鈥� well 鈥� sometimes demanding,鈥� she said.
With 鈥淭he Vegetarian,鈥� she said, 鈥滻 wanted to question about being human and I wanted to describe a woman who desperately didn鈥檛 want to belong to the human race any longer.鈥�
Han made her publishing debut as a poet in 1993; her first short story collection was published in 1995 and her first novel, 鈥淏lack Deer,鈥� in 1998. Works translated into English include 鈥淭he Vegetarian,鈥� 鈥淕reek Lessons,鈥� 鈥淗uman Acts鈥� and 鈥淭he White Book,鈥� a poetic novel that draws on the death of Han鈥檚 older sister shortly after birth. 鈥淭he White Book鈥� was an International Booker Prize finalist in 2018.
Her most recent novel, 鈥淲e Do Not Part,鈥� is due to be published in English next year. It confronts a chapter in South Korea鈥檚 turbulent 20th-century history that saw the country endure war, the division of the Korean peninsula and dictatorship. The novel deals with a 1948-1949 uprising on Jeju, an island south of the Korean mainland in which thousands of people were killed.
鈥淗uman Acts鈥� 鈥� which Olsson, the Nobel committee chair, called a work of 鈥渨itness literature鈥� 鈥� is based on the real-life killing of pro-democracy protesters in Han鈥檚 home city of Gwangju in 1980. The book won Italy鈥檚 Malaparte Prize in 2017.
Anders Karlsson, a lecturer at London鈥檚 School of Oriental and African studies who has translated Han into Swedish, said he was 鈥渙verjoyed鈥� at the Nobel accolade.
He said Han鈥檚 鈥減oignant, condensed鈥� prose is able to describe 鈥渄ifficult and dark passages in South Korean history 鈥� in quite open and inviting language that engages and does not deter the reader.鈥�
The literature prize has long faced criticism that it is too focused on European and North American writers of style-heavy, story-light prose. It has also been male-dominated, with just 17 women among its 119 laureates until this year鈥檚 award. The last woman to win was Annie Ernaux of France, in 2022.
Six days of Nobel announcements opened Monday with Americans Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun winning the medicine prize. Two founding fathers of machine learning 鈥� John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton 鈥� won the . On Wednesday, three scientists who discovered powerful techniques to decode and even design novel proteins were awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry.
The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced Friday and the economics award on Monday.
The prize ($1 million) from a bequest left by the award鈥檚 creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel. The laureates are invited to receive their awards at ceremonies on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel鈥檚 death.
