South Korean writer Han Kang wins Nobel Prize in Literature

South Korean author Han Kang, a writer of novels and poems, won the Nobel Prize for Literature on Thursday for "for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life," the Swedish academy announced.

Kang, 53, is the first South Korean to receive the prestigious prize in literature, AFP reported. Along with writing, the author devotes herself to art and music, which is reflected in her literary oeuvre as a whole.

"Han Kang’s work is characterized by this double exposure of pain, a correspondence between mental and physical torment with close connections to Eastern thinking," the Swedish academy said.

The author, born on Nov. 27, 1970 in Gwanju, South Korea, has "a unique awareness of the connections between body and soul, the living and the dead, and in her poetic and experimental style has become an innovator in contemporary prose," Nobel Committee Chairman Anders Olsson told the press.

Han Kang became internationally known for her novel “The Vegetarian” (2007). Written in three parts, it describes the violent consequences of its protagonist Yeong-hye’s refusal to eat meat, which provokes brutal rejection from those around her. In 2016, it earned her the International Booker Prize.

The other South Korean to be rewarded with a Nobel Prize, albeit a Peace Prize, was former President Kim Dae-Jung in 2000 for "his work for democracy and human rights in South Korea and in East Asia in general, and for peace and reconciliation with North Korea in particular."

Last year, Norwegian playwright Jon Fosse received the prestigious award.