Customers browse the works of Han Kang at the Gwanghwamun branch of the Kyobo Book Center in Seoul on Oct. 16. YONHAP Photo

SEOUL – Han Kang’s historic win of the Nobel Prize in literature appears to have sparked a reading boom across South Korea, with data showing that locals have bought substantially more books following the October 10 announcement.

BC Card, one of the biggest credit card companies here, analysed online and offline sales at major book outlets in recent weeks. It found that book sales of BC Card users for the period of October 10 to 16 jumped by 39.2 per cent compared to the previous week.

Book sales in that seven-day span were 44 per cent more than the same period of the previous month — September 10 to 16 — and 31.9 per cent more than the same period in the previous year.

The new report indicates a general increase in book sales, after major bookstores have already reported that Han’s books are selling more than ever before. Kyobo Book Center, Yes24 and Aladin each sold over 1 million copies spanning her literary works — online and offline combined — in the six days following the Nobel announcement.

According to the BC Card report, users in their 60s bought 51.9 per cent more books during the October 10-16 compared to the previous week, a steeper increase than in any other age group. They were followed by a 42.8 per cent increase among those in their 50s, a 35.3 per cent increase among 30-somethings, 31.9 per cent among 40-somethings and an 11.5 per cent increase among BC Card-holders in their 20s.

In terms of the money spent on buying books, purchases made by those in their 40s accounted for 32 per cent of all book sales at major bookstores across the country. Purchases made by BC Card users in their 30s accounted for 23.1 per cent of book sales, followed by 18.8 per cent by 50-somethings, 17.2 per cent by 20-somethings and 8.8 per cent from those in their 60s.

Han, 53, made history by becoming the first Korean and the first Asian Nobel laureate in literature. She had also become the first Korean writer to win the International Booker Prize for “The Vegetarian” in 2016.

She became just the second Korean to win the Nobel Prize, with the other having been Kim Dae-jung, the then-president who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000. – The Korea Herald/ANN