How Much Does Nobel Prize Winner Han Kang Earn? ... 2 Billion Won Prize Money This Year, Plus Hundreds of Millions in Royalties

Han Kang, the first Korean author to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, is expected to earn tens of billions of won this year from prize money and royalties from book sales.

Writer Hangang is attending as an awardee at the 18th PonyJeong Innovation Award ceremony held on the 17th at PonyJeong Hall, I'Park Tower, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Photo by Joint Press Corps

The Nobel Prize money is 11 million Swedish kronor (approximately 1.4 billion KRW). In addition, Han Kang received the Samsung Ho-Am Prize in the Arts (prize money of 300 million KRW) from the Samsung Group Ho-Am Foundation in May, and on the 17th, the Pony Chung Innovation Award (200 million KRW) from the HDC Group, bringing her total prize money income this year to 2 billion KRW.

The Nobel Prize money is exempt from taxes under the Income Tax Act.

There is also royalty income from book sales. Han Kang’s works surpassed 1 million copies sold just five days after winning the Nobel Prize.

Royalties are generally 10% of the book price for typical authors, and up to 15% for bestselling authors. Considering that Han Kang’s book costs about 15,000 KRW, the royalty income based on 10% exceeds 1.5 billion KRW. Even now, online book orders are delayed due to high demand, indicating that royalty income is expected to increase further.

There are also royalties from overseas publishing rights. Han Kang’s works have been translated and published in 76 editions across 28 languages by the Korea Literature Translation Institute, and sold-out situations are occurring in major foreign countries as well.