Han Kang wins South Korea’s first literature Nobel

STOCKHOLM: Author Han Kang on Thursday became the first South Korean to win the Nobel Prize in Literature for her work exploring the correspondence between mental and physical torment as well as historical events.

A short story writer and novelist, Han is best known for her book “The Vegetarian”, which was her major international breakthrough and won the Man Booker Prize in 2016.

The 53-year-old was honoured with the Nobel “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life,” the Swedish Academy said.

She is one of only 18 women to receive the literature Nobel out of 121 laureates -- though the Academy has made strides in that regard, crowning nine women in the past two decades.

The Academy has long been criticised for the overrepresentation of Western white men authors among its picks.

Han had just finished dinner with her son at her home in Seoul when she got the news in a call, she told a Nobel Foundation interview.

“I´m so surprised and absolutely honoured,” she said. “I grew up with Korean literature, (to) which I feel very close. So I hope this news is nice for Korean literature readers and my friends, writers and others.”