South Koreans reacted with joy and astonishment on Thursday after learning that homegrown writer Han Kang won the Nobel Prize in literature, an unexpected moment that stoked national pride about the country’s growing cultural influence.

More than 500,000 copies of South Korean author Han Kang’s novels and other works have been sold since she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, publishers reported on Sunday. Kyobo and Yes24, two of South Korea's leading online and physical book retailers,

The 2024 Nobel Prize in literature has been awarded to Han Kang, a South Korean author, for her “intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.”