'Kim Ji-young, Born 1982' Sells Over 300,000 Copies Overseas

Han River's "Vegetarian" Records Sales of Approximately 160,000 Copies

Jo Nam-ju's Kim Ji-young, Born 1982 has been identified as the best-selling Korean literary work overseas over the past five years. The Literature Translation Institute of Korea released on the 18th the sales status of Korean literature published abroad from 2016 to 2020. According to the report, Kim Ji-young, Born 1982 sold over 300,000 copies across ten language regions. The country where it gained the most popularity was Japan, where it was published in 2018 and sold more than 200,000 copies. Han Kang's The Vegetarian sold over 160,000 copies in three language regions, ranking second in sales. Son Won-pyung's Almond sold over 90,000 copies in Japan, and Jeong You-jeong's The Origin of Species sold over 20,000 copies in Brazil. Over the past five years, thirty-four titles have sold more than 5,000 copies, with sixteen of these published in 2020. Notably, Kim Young-ha's Diary of a Murderer won awards such as the Independent Publisher Literary Award and the International Mystery Literature Award in Germany in 2020, selling over 10,000 copies.

Last year, 186 Korean literary works were published overseas with support from the Translation Institute. Including support from the private Daesan Foundation, more than 200 titles were introduced abroad annually. The number of cases where works that became steady sellers in specific countries are published in multiple language regions continues to increase. The Institute explained, "Among all supported projects, 80% involve foreign publishers confirming the publication of Korean literature and applying for translation," indicating that Korean literature is establishing itself with independent competitiveness in the global market.