Anchor: A South Korean author has been named the winner of this year's Man Booker International Prize. Han Kang received the honor at an awards ceremony in London on Monday for her novel," The Vegetarian," along with her translator Deborah Smith. Han's book beat five other finalists vying for the coveted prize. KBS was at the awards ceremony to observe the event first-hand.
Our Mina Cha has more.

Report: South Korean novelist Han Kang has won the 2016 Man Booker International Prize for her book, "The Vegetarian."

The Man Booker Prize’s judging panel on Monday evening announced Han and the book's translator Deborah Smith as the winners of the international prize at a ceremony held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. 

The 45-year old novelist described her book as a question of whether human beings can exist in a pure, innocent manner, separated from violence.

[Sound bite: Novelist Han Kang (English)] 
"When I was writing "The Vegetarian," I wanted to question about being a human, and I wanted to describe a woman who desperately didn't want to belong to the human race any longer and desperately wanted to reject being human who commit such violence."

The novel depicts a woman who decides to become a vegetarian to fight a meat-related trauma she suffered during her youth.

“The Vegetarian” was released in 2007 and was first introduced outside South Korea in January.

Literary critic Boyd Tonkin, chairman of the award's judging panel, said Han's book was “concise, unsettling and beautifully composed” and an “uncanny blend of beauty and horror."

The Man Booker Award is given to a writer from Britain and the Man Booker International Prize is handed to a writer from outside the country. The awards are widely considered one of the world’s top three literary honors alongside the Nobel Prize and the French Prix Goncourt. 

Turkish Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk, Chinese author Yan Lianke, Italian writer Elena Ferrante, Angolan writer Jose Eduardo Agualusa and Austrian novelist Robert Seethaler were among the finalists this year.

Han and Smith will evenly split 50-thousand pounds in prize money.
Mina Cha, KBS World Radio News.