The novel “Kim Ji-young, Born 1982” by Cho Nam-joo was found to be the most sold South Korean literary work abroad over the past five years. 

The Literature Translation Institute of Korea reported the assessment on Tuesday after studying 75 percent of the sales of 658 South Korean works published abroad between 2016 and 2020. 

During that time, “Kim Ji-young, Born 1982” sold more than 300-thousand copies abroad after being translated into ten languages. In particular, it sold more than 200-thousand copies in Japan since hitting bookshelves in 2018. 

Han Kang's “The Vegetarian” sold more than 160-thousand copies after being translated into 13 languages. “Almond” by Sohn Won-pyung sold over 90-thousand copies in Japan and Jeong You-jeong’s “The Good Son” sold more than 20-thousand copies in Brazil. 

With support from the institute, 186 South Korean literary works were published in 29 languages last year compared to 127 in 2017.