South Korean author Han Kang won the prestigious Prix Médicis award on Thursday with her novel "I Do Not Bid Farewell."

The judging panel of the French literary award announced in Paris on Thursday that the book was named the winner of the prize in foreign language category.

The Prix Médicis, founded in 1958, is one of the four major French literary awards, along with the Prix Femina, the Prix Goncourt and the Prix Renaudot. The foreign literature category was added in 1970 to recognize translated books.

The same book narrowly lost the Prix Femina on Tuesday, for which it was also shortlisted.

Han had also been nominated for the Prix Médicis with "Greek Lessons" in 2017.

"I Do Not Bid Farewell" is about love, life, grief and loss surrounding the 1948 Jeju April 3 Uprising, told through the voices of three women.