Han Kang Book Sales Surge in S. Korea After Winning Nobel Prize

A major activity is witnessed by major South Korean bookstores on Friday as the books of South Korean author Han Kang's books sales skyrocketed and the share price of local publishers jumped after her historic Nobel Prize win.

Kang is the first Asian female author to capture the prestigious prize, and the one of the 18 women to receive the literature Nobel out of 121 laureates.

She is internationally well known for her "The Vegetarian", which was her first novel to be translated into English and won the Man Booker Prize in 2016.

She won the Nobel Prize "for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life."

After the announcement, major bookstore websites and physical bookstores across the country were fast crowded by people who lined to purchase her books. 

Han's works filled all 10 slots on bookstore chain Kyobo's real-time bestseller list. The company told AFP that 60,000 copies of Han's books were sold early Friday, 451 times more than the day before.