Lifestyle - The Korea Times

Korean graphic novel wins Eisner Award for 1st time

A South Korean graphic novel has won a prestigious U.S. comic industry award for the first time, marking a milestone for the country's comics. "Purgatory Funeral Cakes" by Korean cartoonist Sanho took the Best U.S. Edition of International Material-Asia prize at the 38th Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, often dubbed the "Oscars of comics," the book's Korean publisher Munhakdongnae said Friday. The awards ceremony was held on July 24 (U.S. time) at the Hilton Bayfront in San Diego, during Comic-Con International. The award recognizes the best English-language translation of an Asian comic published in North America. While Korean titles, such as "The Story of Life on the Golden Fields" by Kim Dong-hwa, "Grass" by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim, and "Hellbound" by Yeon Sang-ho and Choi Kyu-seok, had been nominated in the past, this marks the first time a Korean work has won. Originally published in Korea, the fantasy graphic novel centers on a mysterious shop that bakes cakes for the dead so they can reach the gate of reincarnation after traversing the purgatory plains for 49 days. The English editio

Aug 1, 2026By Yonhap

Korean graphic novel wins Eisner Award for 1st time

InterviewHangeul unites people through culture, not imperial power, says scholar

Robert Fouser, an American scholar and linguist, says the global spread of Hangeul, the Korean alphabet, is an interesting phenomenon in an era of increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) that bonds people culturally without aggression, unlike other languages that have found inroads through religious or colonial imposition. “It (Hangeul) has an interesting role, perhaps, as a kind of language that brings people together as with K-pop fans, and that's related to its history of not being an aggressive language in terms of dominating through religion or control through imperialism,” Robert Fouser, an independent scholar, said during a video interview with The Korea Times, Wednesday. In June, he published his seventh Korean-language book, titled “The Spread of Writing Systems,” which traces the creation, evolution and spread of writing systems across human history. In addition to his native English, Fouser speaks multiple Asian and European languages, including fluent Korean and Japanese. He has also studied Latin, Middle Korean and Esperanto. With a unique career path spannin

Jul 31, 2026By Park Ji-won

Hangeul unites people through culture, not imperial power, says scholar

Why were Korea's high-speed rail stations built so far from city centers?

"What? There's nothing around the station." Whenever you take the KTX or SRT to an unfamiliar city, you will be struck by how desolate the area around the station is. Downtown high-speed rail stations, such as those in Busan, Dongdaegu and Daejeon, are the exception. Most stand on urban outskirts or amid open fields and rice paddies. Some trains even stop in mountainous areas with few homes nearby. There is no need to single out particular cities, as similarly bleak surroundings are found at many stations. How did so many of Korea's high-speed rail stations end up in such remote locations? That question is the starting point for "Leaving the Lonely Station," written by Jun Hyun-woo, a researcher at the Natural Science Research Institute at the University of Seoul. Beginning with the unusual locations of KTX stations, the book shifts its focus to Korea's reliance on cars, the energy crisis and regional population decline. These remote locations stem from several factors. High-speed trains operating at 300 kilometers per hour require relatively straight tracks, preventing substantial deto

Jul 31, 2026By Hankookilbo

Why were Korea's high-speed rail stations built so far from city centers?

Han Kang calls for change of course in 'age of hate'

Nobel laureate Han Kang on Wednesday called the deepening hatred in Korea and around the world "a challenge we must overcome," stressing the need to move forward beyond this division. Han made the remarks as she met Korean reporters on the sidelines of the Avignon Festival, one of the world's most prestigious performing arts festivals, where Korean has been invited as an official language to mark the 140th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Korea and France. "How we can overcome the issue of hatred is an important challenge for us," Han said. "We are at a time, in which we have to put our heads together to discuss how we can change the course and move forward in another direction." In such a context, Han noted the recent controversy surrounding a Seoul high school baseball, which came under fire and eventually received a six-month ban for deriding opponents with trash talk. Baseball players at Pai Chai High School yelled slogans, such as "Let's go to Starbucks!" and "Tank Day!" at their opponents from Gwangju Jeil High School during a late June tournament game in Seoul. Their chants w

Jul 16, 2026By Yonhap

Han Kang calls for change of course in 'age of hate'

K-LIT REVIEW 'Mrs. Shim is a Killer' offers deep cuts

Brooding films with assassin protagonists are a tired trend, but Kang Jiyoung’s "Mrs. Shim is a Killer" cuts away the stereotypes to get at the heart of the genre. The titular character is a 51-year-old former butcher looking for a new line of work. A widowed mother short of modern skills, Mrs. Shim unexpectedly finds the strange and cutthroat world of murder-for-hire that has plenty of use for someone experienced with knives when she answers a job ad in the newspaper for the Smile Detective Agency. “You can wash your hands clean when you’re dead,” a fortune teller advises, summing up the colorful collection of malcontents who make up the novel’s cast of characters. Most of them arise like Mrs. Shim from humble origins, doing anything they can to survive and prosper in a rough-and-tumble world of economic desperation. The author enchants with a delicately woven series of overlapping plotlines that both surprise and entertain, while also bringing in interesting and relatively obscure facets of Korea’s culture, such as ghost weddings and fortune telling. Most chapters are told

Jul 11, 2026By Arlo Matisz

[K-LIT REVIEW] 'Mrs. Shim is a Killer' offers deep cuts

Nobel Laureate Han Kang's Seoul bookstore closes amid gentrification

Korean author Han Kang’s independent bookstore, “Onul Books,” has closed its doors after eight years, Wednesday, marking the end of a literary space that had drawn devoted readers from across the country and abroad. The bookstore, which had opened in Seoul’s Yangjae neighborhood in 2018 and relocated to the city’s historic Seochon neighborhood in 2023, became known not only for its curated selection of books but also for its intimate literary programs such as a book club, reading sessions and writing classes. Han stepped down as head of the bookstore in 2021 and joined its board. “The shared sensory experience of reading together in the bookstore was truly meaningful,” Han told reporters on Tuesday at the bookstore before its last reading session with visitors. Han personally hosted the final reading event, spending time with readers who gathered to mark the closing. The bookstore had gained heightened attention after Han won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2024, drawing a steady stream of visitors, including international fans. Han attributed the closure to circumstances

Jul 8, 2026By Lee Hae-rin

Nobel Laureate Han Kang's Seoul bookstore closes amid gentrification

Horror books for your summer reading list

Koreans have long known a secret about surviving the summer: fight heat with fear. For decades, the arrival of the monsoon season meant horror specials on Korean television, ghost stories and horror anthologies programmed precisely when tropical nights made sleep impossible. The logic, half science and half folklore, holds that a good shiver down the spine cools the body better than any electric fan. The tradition survives today in summer horror film releases and haunted house pop-ups that appear across Seoul every July. But for readers of English, there is now an alternate route to that seasonal chill, one that does not involve jump scares or formulaic slasher plots. Korean horror and crime fiction has quietly become one of the fastest-growing corners of translated literature, with a shelf of novels that trade cheap thrills for something colder and more lasting. The timing invites comparison with Japan. English-language publishers have spent the past decade riding a wave of translated Japanese mysteries, from Seishi Yokomizo's classic locked-room puzzles to Yukito Ayatsuji's "The Decago

Jul 7, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min

Horror books for your summer reading list

K-LIT REVIEW K-drama mixes with Jane Austen in June Hur's 'Behind Five Willows'

In the late 18th century, King Jeongjo of Joseon found himself with a headache — one that was simultaneously troubling his British contemporaries a continent away, as debate about the importance and appropriateness of the novel as an art form spread. While Jeongjo was a staunch advocate of classical, moralistic texts modeled after the ancient Chinese masters, the people of Joseon were being swept away by new literary winds. With the increase in trade between Joseon and Qing China came an influx of new Chinese books — vernacular fiction written in casual styles that focused on everyday people and their feelings rather than philosophies of reason and grand Confucian virtues. Writers in Joseon took notice and were soon producing literary works of their own that were satirical, deeply emotional, whimsical and utterly, unspeakably popular. Alarmed, Jeongjo unleashed the “Munche Banjeong” movement, which directly translated means “the restoration of proper literary style.” This crackdown aimed to purge all “unorthodox” writing styles and return readers’ attention to morally

Jul 5, 2026By Faye Leung

[K-LIT REVIEW] K-drama mixes with Jane Austen in June Hur's 'Behind Five Willows'

German author reflects on kindness, loss and caring for aging parents

German author Volker Kitz met readers in Seoul Thursday, during the 2026 Seoul International Book Fair, sharing the deeply personal story behind his Der Spiegel bestseller "Aging Parents: On Caretaking and the Time We Have Left" — a direct translation from its German title — newly published in Korea under the title "I Decided to Be Kind to You Until the End." Invited by the German Embassy in Korea and Korean publisher Gimmyoung, it was Kitz 's first visit to Korea. The Berlin-based writer, lawyer and columnist has authored 10 books, with "The Laws of the Mind" selling more than 100,000 copies in Korea. The latest book draws on Kitz's experience caring for his father, who lived with dementia. Introducing the event, a Gimmyoung editor said the book initially appeared to be about aging parents and caregiving, but ultimately revealed itself to be a meditation on kindness. “Although we cannot stop our parents from growing old or stop time itself, what we can choose is our attitude,” the editor said. “And in this book, that attitude is kindness.” Kitz opened the event by reciting t

Jun 26, 2026By Anna J. Park

German author reflects on kindness, loss and caring for aging parents

French author urges Korean readers to follow inner calling over material success

French novelist Bernard Werber encouraged readers to pursue their unique calling rather than material success, arguing that true happiness comes from discovering the talent each person is born to develop. Speaking at a special lecture during the 2026 Seoul International Book Fair, Thursday, where France is this year's guest of honor, the bestselling author shared his lifelong fascination with spirituality, a recurring theme in many of his novels. Werber said he began exploring yoga, Buddhist meditation and other spiritual practices at the age of 13, leading him to believe there are two fundamentally different ways of living: one driven by materialism and another guided by spirituality. "A materialistic life revolves around finding a job, earning money, building a family and repeating the same cycle," he said. "A spiritual life begins by asking why we were born, why we are here and what only we can contribute to the world." Werber sees spirituality not as a collective doctrine but an individual journey of finding one's vocation. Each person, he said, possesses a unique talent and purpose