Lifestyle - The Korea Times

K-LIT REVIEW 'The Proposal' lands between space opera, romance

The inside flap of Bae Myung-hoon’s “The Proposal” says it is “a space opera romance set against the backdrop of a looming war between Earth and a mysterious entity,” promising English-language readers a sci-fi epic in the form of a slim novelette of just over 100 pages. In smooth prose, the book does indeed tell the story of a looming space war — but can it also fulfill the promises of space opera and romance? Readers looking for a heartrending love story or fantastical saga in the stars will probably come away a bit confused, since neither manifests in ways genre enthusiasts would expect. The slim volume offers little that would be recognizable to international fans of either style, but a great deal to readers interested in a literary take on speculative fiction with a Korean spin. The epistolary work is presented as a series of communications from a young man born in space to his “Earthian” girlfriend, detailing his life in a military force riddled with distrust, religious influence, internal politics, cultural conflicts between Earth- and space-born humans, and perh

Jan 30, 2026By Jennifer Flinn

[K-LIT REVIEW] 'The Proposal' lands between space opera, romance

K-LIT REVIEW Loneliness connects humans, vampires in ‘Midnight Shift’

In a world with more than 8 billion people, it’s astonishing that one of the most universal experiences is loneliness. There are many ways to be alone — by leaving others behind, being left behind, ignored or cast out by others. Unlike solitude, which is often voluntary, it can transform people into monsters, turning them against each other or against the world. That’s the kind of loneliness Cheon Seon-ran explores in “The Midnight Shift,” a novel marketed as a vampire mystery but actually an exploration of the human struggle to make connections in a world that often doesn’t seem to care. Cheon first made her literary mark with “A Thousand Blues” (2020), which won the 4th Korea Sci-fi Literature Award and is slated for a U.S. film adaptation. “The Midnight Shift,” published in Korea in 2021 and released in English by Bloomsbury last year in a debut translation by Gene Png, reflects the author’s love of horror and was partially inspired by her mother’s stay at a convalescent hospital. Neither genre fiction nor gory thriller, readers should expect less vampire act

Jan 23, 2026By Emerald Gao

[K-LIT REVIEW] Loneliness connects humans, vampires in ‘Midnight Shift’

Han Kang's 'We Do Not Part' shortlisted for NBCC Awards

"We Do Not Part," a novel by Nobel Prize-winning South Korean author Han Kang, has been selected as a finalist for the 2025 National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) Awards in the United States. The English translation of the book was named Tuesday (U.S. time) as one of five contenders in the fiction category by the NBCC, an American nonprofit association. The annual awards recognize outstanding books published in English across six categories: fiction, nonfiction, biography, autobiography, poetry and criticism. First published in Korean in 2021, the novel is set during the 1948 people's uprising on Jeju Island. The English edition was translated by E. Yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris. The Jeju uprising was initially sparked by grievances over the U.S. military-led administration following Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule. It subsequently spread, leading to a brutal government crackdown that killed an estimated 14,000 to 30,000 civilians, marking one of the bloodiest episodes in Korean history. Kim Hye-soon became the first Korean to win an NBCC award in 2024, when she was honored i

Jan 21, 2026By Yonhap

Han Kang's 'We Do Not Part' shortlisted for NBCC Awards

First bilingual edition brings poet Kim Yeong-nang to new readers

There is a saying in Korea: “In the North, we have Kim So-wol; in the South, we have Kim Yeong-nang.” The two stand as twin pillars of the country’s lyric poetry, their work still shaping the emotional landscape of modern Korean verse. Kim Yeong-nang (1903-50) left behind just 86 poems, written over the course of his 47-year life before it was cut short at the dawn of the 1950-53 Korean War. Last month, those writings found new life in the first Korean-English bilingual edition of his complete works. “A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever,” translated by the veteran scholar Brother Anthony, places the original Korean poems alongside their English renderings. Read side by side, they invite the reader to experience Kim’s signature musicality as it moves from one language to another. To trace how Brother Anthony first came to translate the poems, one must go back nearly two decades. “Kim Hyeon-cheol, the poet’s son, arrived in my office 20 years ago,” he told The Korea Times. “He had come back to Korea (after a long exile in the United States) hoping to find somebody who wo

Jan 17, 2026By Park Han-sol

First bilingual edition brings poet Kim Yeong-nang to new readers

'Pachinko' author’s next novel examines Korea’s passion for education

Min Jin Lee, the bestselling author of the global sensation "Pachinko," will return this fall with a new novel titled "American Hagwon," focusing on the intense Korean commitment to private education. Cardinal, the publisher of Lee’s new book, said Wednesday that “American Hagwon” is scheduled for release on Sept. 29. It marks the third installment in Lee’s "diaspora quartet," following "Free Food for Millionaires" (2007) and "Pachinko" (2017). The term "hagwon" in the title refers to Korean private tuition companies that provide intensive after-school lessons. Lee explained that her curiosity about why Koreans are so obsessed with education was a primary motivation for the book. The novel follows a middle-class Korean family whose lives are shattered by a betrayal and the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Their journey takes them from Seoul to Sydney and finally to Southern California as they try to find their footing again. "Almost a decade ago, I started to write 'American Hagwon' because I wanted to understand why education is so important to Koreans everywhere," Lee said in a sta

Jan 16, 2026By Baek Byung-yeul

'Pachinko' author’s next novel examines Korea’s passion for education

From exchange students to corporate insiders, Smagin twins present new vision of 'Korean Dream'

When Evgenii and Oleg Smagin arrived in Korea as exchange students more than a decade ago, they were struck by the country’s intensity. Everything felt fast and ambitious — a place where effort is visibly translated into progress. For the identical twins from Russia who share a passion for cutting-edge technology, Korea offered both excitement and possibility. That first impression, however, would later deepen into something more demanding — and more transformative. Today, the Smagin twins are the authors of "The Korean Dream," a book gaining attention among both foreign residents and Korean readers. Part memoir and part practical guide, the book traces their shared journey from international students to MBA graduates of KAIST, and eventually to professionals working at major Korean corporations such as SK Telecom and JB Financial Group. More than a success story, it offers a rare insider-outsider perspective on what it actually takes for foreigners to build long-term lives in Korea. “Our story really became the foundation of the book,” the brothers said in a joint interview.

Dec 30, 2025By Alice Hong

From exchange students to corporate insiders, Smagin twins present new vision of 'Korean Dream'

K-LIT REVIEW Juhea Kim’s short story collection reminds us what we hadn’t known we’d forgotten

What would you get if you combined climate fiction with dystopian sci-fi, threw in a dash of feminist and Indigenous literature, then added semi-autobiographical writing to the mix? The answer can be found in “A Love Story From the End of the World” by Juhea Kim, the award-winning author’s first short story collection. The 10 stories in this collection are taken from Kim’s writings over the years. They share no common theme or genre, but span an impressive range that puts the author’s literary versatility on full display. “Biodome” and “Bioark” transport us to a dystopian future; “KwaZulu-Natal,” “Mountain, Island” and the eponymous “A Story From the End of the World” tug at our heartstrings; “Color of the New World” and “Tree of Life” leave us reeling and wanting more; “Older Sister” and “Notting Hill” bear the intriguing scent of autobiography; and “A Woman’s Life, in 10 Scenes” is refreshingly experimental. With this book, Juhea Kim demonstrates once more that she is the master of using external struggles to guide the reader’s gaz

Dec 28, 2025By Faye Leung

[K-LIT REVIEW] Juhea Kim’s short story collection reminds us what we hadn’t known we’d forgotten

K-LIT REVIEW Anton Hur’s debut novel explores the singularity

“Toward Eternity,” the debut novel by Anton Hur, who has built a worldwide reputation as a star Korean-to-English literary translator, borrows heavily from the ideas of technofuturists. They theorize a point — the singularity — at which superintelligent machines tilt things toward a posthuman sci-fi future, and human-machine hybrids start to replace us. Hur’s story begins at the cusp of that revolution. Those who have heard the technofuturist gospel will readily recognize the premise behind the novel. Ray Kurzweil, computer scientist and the real-world chief prophet of technofuturism, predicted superintelligent machines by 2045 in his 2005 magnum opus, “The Singularity is Near.” “[T]he social and philosophical ramifications of these changes will be profound,” Kurzweil wrote, “and the threats they pose considerable.” With these ideas in mind, “Toward Eternity” grapples with an increasingly timely question: How can human meaning survive in a world of superintelligent machines? The first central character in “Toward Eternity” resembles Hur himself: a cosmopolit

Dec 26, 2025By Peter Juhl

[K-LIT REVIEW] Anton Hur’s debut novel explores the singularity

Naver Webtoon creators embrace digital tools to redefine creative boundaries

Naver Webtoon, an online comics affiliate of Naver, has launched a new collaboration with global tech giant Apple that shifts the focus of brand partnerships from popular intellectual properties (IP) to the creators themselves. The company said Sunday that its "Made on iPad" campaign features 10 prominent webtoon artists, including ZHENA of the global hit fantasy comic "Eleceed," and highlights how professional digital tools are integrated into the artists’ creative workflows. The collaboration is seen as a move to focus on how creators actually work, rather than just using characters from their stories. The campaign shows how the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil Pro are used in the actual creative process, focusing on features like drawing performance, portability and work efficiency. Creators involved in the campaign said that using tablets and styluses allows them to work more freely, according to Naver Webtoon. "The campaign is strategically designed to highlight the utility and performance of the hardware within a natural creative workflow, rather than simply displaying a finished result

Dec 21, 2025By Baek Byung-yeul

Naver Webtoon creators embrace digital tools to redefine creative boundaries

InterviewIn wake of 'failed' revolution, Wai Yee Chan stands with young Hongkongers who carried it

For Hongkongers, the year 2014 was an experience without precedent. For 79 days, hundreds of thousands poured into the streets demanding the right to choose their own leaders free from Beijing’s control, all the while shielding themselves from tear gas and pepper spray with umbrellas that would later give the rally its signature name: the Umbrella Movement. “Hong Kong had never been a place of many mass movements. So when it was over and everyone went home, none of us could quite articulate what had exactly happened, or how we felt,” novelist Wai Yee Chan said in an interview with the Korean press Monday, recalling how she had walked those streets herself among the crowd. “The biggest emotion wasn’t PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder); it was helplessness.” But the 2014 movement was far from fruitless. It lit a fuse in Hong Kong’s collective consciousness, something that continued to smolder long after the crowds dispersed. What moved Chan most deeply was the sight of so many young faces, including her own students. “People my age avoided talk of independence because w

Dec 10, 2025By Park Han-sol

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