Korea to launch graduate school for literary translation by 2027

Jung Hyang-mi, left, deputy minister for culture and arts policy at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, speaks during the Literature Translation Institute (LTI) Korea's press briefing to mark the launch of a preparatory committee for the establishment of an LTI Korea Graduate School of Translation in Seoul, Tuesday. Newsis

Korea plans to open a new graduate school dedicated to literary translation by September 2027, creating a key engine for promoting Korean literature and cultural content globally, the state-run Literature Translation Institute (LTI) Korea announced, Tuesday.

LTI Korea President Chon Soo-young said the institute is seeking to “evolve the existing Translation Academy into a regular master’s degree program” to train not only literary translators but also experts in promoting and planning Korean cultural content.

“Through the graduate school, we aim to nurture high-level translation professionals who will lead global cultural exchanges in the digital transformation era,” she said at a press briefing marking the launch of a preparatory committee for the school.

The new school, which will be based out of LTI Korea’s building in Seoul’s Samseong-dong, will offer a master’s program in Korean literary and cultural content translation with seven language tracks — English, French, German, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Russian — focusing on translating from Korean into other languages rather than into Korean. Currently, they plan to admit 30 Korean students and 30 international students.

Since 2008, LTI Korea has run the Translation Academy, the country’s only systematic program focused on Korean literature and cultural content translation, producing 1,694 graduates who now work around the world.

Despite offering a rigorous two-year, 50-plus credit curriculum in seven languages, the academy has operated as a nondegree program, which has limited graduates’ ability to build academic careers, obtain visas or join exchange programs with overseas institutes.

“Every year, our survey has shown strong demand from professors and graduates to convert the academy into a degree program,” said Kwak Hyun-joo, head of LTI Korea’s education division. She noted that over 90 percent of its students said in surveys that they would consider reentering and pursuing a degree if it becomes a graduate school.

Backed by revisions to the Literature Promotion Act that took effect in August 2025, LTI Korea submitted its establishment plan to the Ministry of Education and is seeking official approval this year, with Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism officials pledging to secure state funding for the project.

The graduate school aims to build synergy with existing domestic and overseas partners through joint curricula, credit exchanges and collaborative translation projects, LTI noted.

It will also strive to sustain what many figures from cultural fields call an unprecedented “golden age” for Korean literature and other cultural content abroad, highlighted by Han Kang’s Nobel Prize win in 2024 and a growing list of Korean works in translation that have become international award winners and bestsellers.

Korean writer and 2024 Nobel Prize winner Han Kang reacts during a press conference at the Centre for Contemporary Culture in Barcelona, Spain, April 22. EPA-Yonhap

Poet and former culture minister Do Jong-hwan said the school should become a base for training “high-level professional translators and cultural mediators” who can help Korean works secure a place in world literature.

The culture ministry, LTI officials and the committee — which consists of acclaimed writers, critics and a long-time cultural patron — stressed that the initiative is particularly meaningful at a time when rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are fueling concerns about the future of human translators.

“In practical fields, AI can translate quickly and efficiently, but for literature and cultural content, high-quality translation requires understanding cultural context and communicating emotionally,” Kwak said. “If AI had translated Han Kang’s works, would she have received the Nobel Prize in literature? I don’t think so.”

“AI may produce a text in seconds, but making it truly literary and human takes a long process of revision,” said Professor Yoon Sun-me of LTI’s Translation Academy, mirroring Kwak’s views. The new school, she added, will train students not only in core translation skills and textual interpretation, but also in “AI-era digital literacy and editing, and the ethics of using AI in translation.”

Veteran novelist Hwang Sok-yong, who joined via video message as a committee member, drew on his own experience using AI tools while writing his recent novel.

“AI was helpful for searching materials and structuring content, but the actual writing still had to be done by the author,” he said. “Just as literature cannot be written by AI, the subtle differences of language and the transmission from ‘hand to hand, heart to heart, soul to soul’ in translation should be handled by humans.”