South Korean poet and novelist Han Kang was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature Thursday for a poetic and unsettling body of work that the Nobel committee said B次元官网网址渃onfronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.B次元官网网址�

A slow-burning international literary star who has won multiple awards in Korea and Europe, Han is the first Asian woman and the first South Korean writer to win the Nobel literature prize. She was awarded for books, including B次元官网网址淭he VegetarianB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淗uman Acts,B次元官网网址� that explore the pain of being human and the scars of KoreaB次元官网网址檚 turbulent history.

Nobel literature committee member Anna-Karin Palm said Han writes about B次元官网网址渢rauma, pain and loss,B次元官网网址� whether individual or collective, B次元官网网址渨ith the same compassion and care.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淎nd this, I think, is something that is quite remarkable,B次元官网网址� Palm said.

Nobel committee chairman Anders Olsson praised HanB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址渆mpathy for the vulnerable, often female livesB次元官网网址� of her characters.

B次元官网网址淪he has a unique awareness of the connections between body and soul, the living and the dead,B次元官网网址� Olsson said.

Han is the second South Korean national to win a Nobel Prize. Late former President Kim Dae-jung won the peace prize in 2000 for his efforts to restore democracy in South Korea during the countryB次元官网网址檚 previous military rule and improve relations with war-divided rival North Korea.

Han wins the Nobel at a time of growing global influence of South Korean culture, which in recent years has included the success of films like director Bong Joon-hoB次元官网网址檚 Oscar-winning B次元官网网址� ,B次元官网网址� the Netflix survival drama B次元官网网址淪quid GameB次元官网网址� and the worldwide fame of groups like BTS and BLACKPINK.

Han, 53, won the International Booker Prize in 2016 for B次元官网网址淭he Vegetarian,B次元官网网址� an unsettling novel in which a womanB次元官网网址檚 decision to stop eating meat has devastating consequences.

At the time of winning that award, Han said writing novels B次元官网网址渋s a way of questioning for me.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淚 just try to complete my questions through the process of my writing and I try to stay in the questions, sometimes painful, sometimes B次元官网网址� well B次元官网网址� sometimes demanding,B次元官网网址� she said.

With B次元官网网址淭he Vegetarian,B次元官网网址� she said, B次元官网网址滻 wanted to question about being human and I wanted to describe a woman who desperately didnB次元官网网址檛 want to belong to the human race any longer.B次元官网网址�

Han made her publishing debut as a poet in 1993; her first short story collection was published in 1995 and her first novel, B次元官网网址淏lack Deer,B次元官网网址� in 1998. Works translated into English include B次元官网网址淭he Vegetarian,B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址淕reek Lessons,B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址淗uman ActsB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淭he White Book,B次元官网网址� a poetic novel that draws on the death of HanB次元官网网址檚 older sister shortly after birth. B次元官网网址淭he White BookB次元官网网址� was an International Booker Prize finalist in 2018.

Her most recent novel, B次元官网网址淲e Do Not Part,B次元官网网址� is due to be published in English next year. It confronts a chapter in South KoreaB次元官网网址檚 turbulent 20th-century history that saw the country endure war, the division of the Korean peninsula and dictatorship. The novel deals with a 1948-1949 uprising on Jeju, an island south of the Korean mainland in which thousands of people were killed.

B次元官网网址淗uman ActsB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� which Olsson, the Nobel committee chair, called a work of B次元官网网址渨itness literatureB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� is based on the real-life killing of pro-democracy protesters in HanB次元官网网址檚 home city of Gwangju in 1980. The book won ItalyB次元官网网址檚 Malaparte Prize in 2017.

Anders Karlsson, a lecturer at LondonB次元官网网址檚 School of Oriental and African studies who has translated Han into Swedish, said he was B次元官网网址渙verjoyedB次元官网网址� at the Nobel accolade.

He said HanB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址減oignant, condensedB次元官网网址� prose is able to describe B次元官网网址渄ifficult and dark passages in South Korean history B次元官网网址� in quite open and inviting language that engages and does not deter the reader.B次元官网网址�

The literature prize has long faced criticism that it is too focused on European and North American writers of style-heavy, story-light prose. It has also been male-dominated, with just 17 women among its 119 laureates until this yearB次元官网网址檚 award. The last woman to win was Annie Ernaux of France, in 2022.

Six days of Nobel announcements opened Monday with Americans Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun winning the medicine prize. Two founding fathers of machine learning B次元官网网址� John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton B次元官网网址� won the . On Wednesday, three scientists who discovered powerful techniques to decode and even design novel proteins were awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry.

The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced Friday and the economics award on Monday.

The prize ($1 million) from a bequest left by the awardB次元官网网址檚 creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel. The laureates are invited to receive their awards at ceremonies on Dec. 10, the anniversary of NobelB次元官网网址檚 death.