[Opinion] How Much Is the Han River?

The Era When Korean Language Is Needed to Read Nobel Prize-Winning Works

What is the value of the Nobel Prize awarded to novelist Han Kang (54)? First, let's consider the money she will earn. The Nobel Prize money is 11 million kronor (about 1.43 billion KRW). Even if you earn the same amount of money, the money earned from the Nobel Prize is special. It is exempt from taxes that are unavoidable in death. Article 18 of the Enforcement Decree of the Income Tax Act clearly states that the Nobel Prize money and awards are tax-exempt. There is no comprehensive income tax of up to 40% on the earnings. In other words, it is as if others earned 40% more. Also, within five days after the award, Han Kang's books sold 1 million copies at bookstores. The average price per book is about 14,000 KRW. Authors usually receive 10% of the book price as royalties. She earned about 1.4 billion KRW in royalties. The publishing industry expects that more than 1 million copies will be sold. Another 1.4 billion KRW will soon be added to her bank account.

In the software industry, there is a saying that the Korean market size is just under 2% of the global market. For example, about 2% of MS Windows' global sales come from Korea. This applies to other industries as well. Korea's population is about 1.6% of the world's population. Han Kang's 76 books, translated into 28 languages, are already being sold overseas. Simply based on market size, they should sell 50 times more overseas than in Korea. Even if there isn't a frenzy like in Korea, the books will be sold on a scale different from before.

Books like Portuguese author Jos? Saramago's Blindness and Turkish author Orhan Pamuk's My Name is Red have ranked high in Korean book sales. Why have these works by authors whose names are hard to pronounce been loved by Koreans? Because the phrase "Nobel Prize in Literature winner" is attached before the authors' names. After winning the Nobel Prize, Han Kang said at the Pony Chung Innovation Award ceremony, "I will turn 54 in about a month," and added, "If the golden age of a writer is between 50 and 60, I have six years left. I want to devote myself to writing three books that are in my heart during these six years."

Those books will be published with the phrase "Nobel Prize in Literature winner" attached. The treatment she receives domestically and internationally will inevitably change. A 10% royalty is a common practice. Top-tier authors like Nobel laureates can receive more than that. It would not be surprising to hear that Han Kang becomes a billionaire in ten years. Numbers clearly show facts more than rhetoric. Of course, even if someone has a lot of money, they are often criticized. This is because some people accumulate wealth through unjust methods and processes. Han Kang is free from such criticism. On the contrary, the more she earns, the more praise she will receive.

More importantly, the effect of the Nobel Prize in Literature is changing Korea beyond Han Kang. This is the so-called Han Kang effect, Han Kang's miracle. The online bookstore Yes24 reported that after the news of the Nobel Prize in Literature was announced, sales of novels, poetry, and plays excluding Han Kang's books increased by 49.3% compared to last year during the following week. Korea is recognized as a world leader in semiconductors, shipbuilding, and other fields. It has also risen to the ranks of a strong nation in arts and sports. Its Olympic rankings are among the highest, countable on one hand. There are many globally recognized sports stars like Park Se-ri and Kim Yuna. With BTS, BLACKPINK, and NewJeans active, words like "oppa" and "daebak" have started to be recognized as global public words in the world pop music scene.

In fact, Korean humanities were pushed to the brink of extinction. The Korean literature department was even called the "starving department." Young people avoided Korean literature departments. Over the past eight years, about 800 humanities departments, including Korean literature, have disappeared. However, there is hope that things will change in the future. Han Kang is a graduate of Yonsei University's Korean literature department, class of '89. At that time, there were many young literary enthusiasts who loved poetry and novels. I want to see young people again carrying poetry collections and novels everywhere.