South Korean Books Reach 3.58M in Exports in 5 Years

State-funded exports of translated South Korean literature reached 3.58 million copies between 2021 and 2025, as per performance data from the Literature Translation Institute of Korea (LTI Korea). The five-year total showcases an increase of 900,000 copies as compared to the 2.68M reported in the earlier 2020–2024 stats.

Annual overseas volume stabilized above 1.19 million for two consecutive years. Simultaneously, sales hit 1,197,557 copies in 2025, up slightly from the 2024 figure of 1,197,329 copies. Throughout the five-year window, 1,026 titles were translated and distributed across 40 language markets under programs run by LTI Korea, which is an affiliate of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the country.

Award Drivers and Commercial Genres

According to reports, works by Nobel laureate Han Kang generated the highest single-title numbers. Her novel We Do Not Part sold about 300,000 copies across 13 countries, including the United Kingdom and France, between 2023 and 2025. Last year, the title's English edition recorded sales of more than 60,000 units. Han’s Greek Lessons also maintained a consistent movement worldwide, selling nearly 50,000 English copies and 30,000 Italian copies.

Additionally, commercial fiction centered around comfort and personal reflection showcased consistent volume upsurge. Hwang Bo-reum’s Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop reportedly accounted for cumulative overseas sales of 88,000 copies. The foreign sales for Hwang's book were driven primarily by its Turkish edition, which sold roughly 70,000 copies last year to push its total since 2023 past 160,000 units. Simultaneously, on the other hand, Kim Ho-yeon’s The Second Chance Convenience Store logged 66,000 global sales.

Baseline Expansion and Market Overview

The figures depict a maturing market framework that extends beyond interim sales spikes surrounding key awards. Seven titles, notably, achieved steady-seller status by surpassing 4,000 copies in annual overseas sales for three consecutive years. These include Spanish editions of Kim Keum-suk’s graphic novel Grass and Russian translations of Sohn Won-pyung’s children's series, The Fox Club.

As per local media, following the release of the five-year report, LTI Korea President Jeon Soo-yong said that the agency would widen its scope with targeted funding. Notably, this funding initiative will revolve around translation and overseas publication to sustain long-term shelf placement of Korean books in foreign retail channels.