Calls grow to promote reading as gov’t cuts funding for libraries, publishers

A reader holds Han Kang's novel 'The Vegetarian' at a special book exhibition to celebrate her Nobel Prize win at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul, Sunday. Newsis

Following Han Kang’s Nobel Prize for literature win last week and the resulting nationwide reading craze, Korea is witnessing a growing movement to restore funding aimed at promoting a culture of reading and supporting the publishing industry, according to officials, Monday.

On Sunday, the first weekend after the announcement of her Nobel Prize win, readers flocked to bookstores and libraries to get their hands on her books.

There were even lineups outside many bookstores before they opened, while the website of one major bookstore experienced a connection failure due to overwhelming traffic.

Kyobo Bookstore and Yes24, two major bookstore chains, sold over 530,000 copies from Friday night through the weekend, averaging approximately 136 copies sold per minute.

Domestic readers’ interest in Han appears to be expanding to literature as a whole.

According to Kyobo Book Centre, sales of books written by Han’s father, Han Seung-won, also increased by 110 times over the past three days.

“Unlike other genres, literature has a significant expansion effect,” said book critic Jang Eun-soo. “Typically, readers visit bookstores to purchase 사설 not only Han Kang’s works but also those of other authors, so the ‘Han Kang effect’ will trigger a chain reaction, boosting interest in other literary works.”

However, it remains to be seen whether this trend will extend beyond literature to a broader interest in reading books in general.

According to the 2023 National Reading Survey, the comprehensive reading rate, which refers to the proportion of adults who read a single book in a year, stood at 43 percent last year, which is the lowest since 1994.

Meanwhile, the Yoon Suk Yeol administration has made significant cuts to the government budget for publishing and reading initiatives.

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