South Koreans reacted with joy and astonishment on Thursday after learning that homegrown writer Han Kang won the Nobel Prize in literature, an unexpected moment that stoked national pride about the country’s growing cultural influence.

SEOUL, Oct 11 (Reuters) - South Koreans flocked to book stores on Friday and crashed websites in a frenzy to snap up copies of the work of novelist Han Kang in her home country, after her unexpected win of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature.

The Nobel Prize in literature has been awarded to the South Korean author Han Kang for what the Nobel committee called her “intense poetic prose.” Nobel committee chairman Anders Olsson