President Moon books flying off shelves

A customer at a bookstore near Seoul Station reads President Moon Jae-in’s book “A Completely New Nation -- Questions from the Republic of Korea and Answers from Moon Jae-in,” Thursday. / Korea Times photo by Baek Byung-yeul

By Baek Byung-yeul

With Moon Jae-in clinching victory in the May 9 presidential election, people who are curious about the new President of Korea are rushing to bookstores.

Right after election day, online and offline bookstores created sections solely focused on President Moon-related books. An official at Kyobo Book Centre in Gwanghwamun said books about Moon sold more than 1,200 copies a day after the election day while they only sold 57 copies a day on average last week.

Among those books covering President Moon, TIME magazine’s latest Asia edition featuring him on the cover set a record here as the issue became the most-sold publication in a day at local online bookstore Aladin.

Aladin said Thursday it sold 7,024 copies of the magazine for 24 hours starting May 10 at 1:40 p.m. to break the bookstore’s bestselling record. The company added it sold 3,151 copies of the special edition of the President’s 2011 memoir “Moon Jae-in: The Destiny” on the same day.

The company said its previous record was Han Kang’s “The Vegetarian.” When its English translation won the Man Booker Prize on May 17, last year, the bookstore sold 5,523 copies of the novel. “Thoughts of Ahn Cheol-soo,” written by Ahn Cheol-soo, who ran against Moon at Tuesday’s presidential election, sold 5,226 copies on July 24, 2012.

TIME devoted its cover to Moon introducing him as “The Negotiator.” Beginning with the story when the 64-year-old was engaged in a military operation as a Special Forces soldier following the 1976 axe murder incident, in which North Korean soldiers killed two U.S. Army soldiers in the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the magazine dealt with Moon’s life as a human rights lawyer and presidential candidate along with his political philosophy.

The soaring popularity of the new President can be seen in the e-book market.

Aladin published an e-book version of President Moon’s inauguration speech delivered at the National Assembly’s Rotunda Hall, Wednesday. The e-book is available at the online bookstore for free.

The company also released a free e-book of written sentences of former President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment ruling by the Constitutional Court of Korea on March 10. The book was also released at no cost and was downloaded more than 50,000 times.

The trend is continuing not only on his own books but also books analyzing him.

“From Destiny to Hope,” a conversational 2017 book between Moon and psychologist Lee Na-mi, and “Who? Special Moon Jae-in,” a biographical comic book for children, have been enjoying a sales boost after Moon’s presidential victory.

A customer at a bookstore near Seoul Express Bus Terminal said he bought “A Completely New Nation -- Questions from the Republic of Korea and Answers from Moon Jae-in,” written by the President in January as he wants to know more about Moon’s vision of how he wants his government constructed. “After the removal of former President Park, I was deeply disappointed and worried about the future of this country as a father of two children. As I am expecting a lot from the new President, I just bought his recent book in a bid to share his plan for rebuilding Korea.”