A local publisher said Wednesday it has issued the first 15 books of a new series of famous Korean short stories written in both Korean and English, after five years of preparation.
The 15 titles of the "Bi-lingual Edition Modern Korean Literature" series, which contain one short story each, are available at local bookstores and will soon go on sale on Amazon, Seoul-based Asia Publishers Co. said.
The books include "The Wounded" by Yi Cheong-jun, "Mother's Stake 1" by Park Wan-seo, "The Land of the Banished" by Jo Jung-rae, "The Road to Sampo" by Hwang Sok-young and "The Place Where the Harmonium Was" by Shin Kyung-sook.
"This series will help Koreans better communicate with the world and serve as adequate extra textbooks for foreigners taking Korean studies courses," Lee Kyung-jae, a literary critic who produced the series for the publisher, said during a news conference in Seoul.
He said South Korea is short of literary works translated into English and other foreign languages, although Korean studies is getting increasing world attention.
The 15 short stories written by different writers were selected solely on their literary value, Lee said, adding they best reflect the memories of Korea's turbulent modern history that experienced war, division, industrialization and democratization.
The first batch of the series is classified under three themes -- inter-Korean division, industrialization and women, according to the company.
Asia Publishers said it will release 35 more titles in the series in the second half of this year and plans to increase the number to 100 in coming years.
"We hope this series will serve as a window or guidebook to the Korean culture for foreigners," Bang Hyeon-seok, president of the publishing company, said during the news conference. (Yonhap)