South Korean Printing Demand Surge Amid Nobel Prize Winner

South Korean Printing Demand Surge Amid Nobel Prize Winner

According to Pulse, printing demand in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, surged dramatically after Korean novelist Han Kang was awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature last week.

Cheon Dae-geun, a manager at a printing factory in the Paju Publishing Complex, reported that the factory immediately began working overtime following the announcement of Han’s win. Despite it being a Sunday morning, all employees were called back to handle the urgent workload. In just two days, 50,000 copies of the 23rd and 25th editions of Han’s latest novel, I Do Not Bid Farewell, were printed. Cheon now aims to produce an additional 25,000 copies for the 27th edition. In South Korea, it is uncommon for even a first edition to exceed 5,000 copies. “We don’t even have any paper left,” Cheon remarked.

The surge in demand extended beyond the printing industry to publishing companies. Munhakdongne Publishing Corp. received an order for 75,000 copies of I Do Not Bid Farewell. “It’s the first time we’ve seen such a huge volume of orders in such a short time,” said Um Jae-geun, a manager at Hanyoung Publishing. “We occasionally work on Saturdays, but Sunday shifts are very rare.” All the books were prepared on Sunday and ready for distribution to bookstores by Monday.

The complete list of 2024 Nobel Prize winners was released last week. Han Kang received the Nobel Prize in Literature “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.”

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