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Ever Present, Readers’ Last Resort: Q2 2025 Bestsellers scrap download

늘 여기에 있어 독자들의 ‘믿을 구석’, 2025년 2분기 한국문학 베스트셀러

「KLWAVE brings a diverse range of Korean literature to readers worldwide. “Best Sellers” features roundups of best-selling Korean literary works every quarter. Our second-quarter best sellers were selected based on the comprehensive consideration the list of best-selling books from three major Korean bookstore chains—Kyobo Book Centre, Aladin, and Yes24—covering April through June 2025.」

“What is your last resort when you have no one to turn to or the going gets tough?” The Seoul International Book Fair 2025 raised a question in our minds regarding “The Last Resort.” This was met with over 150,000 people making their way to the book fair, and the five-day journey came to a successful close. What was on their minds as each individual turned to books, seeking their last resort? Sometimes, a verse stumbled upon in a poem that stirs a long-buried feeling, and the experience of encountering my own life through the confession of a stranger become my “last resort” more than ever. Presented before us is the best-seller list for the second quarter of 2025—destined to become yet another “last resort.”

Kim Young-ha’s Only One Life is a collection of essays drawn from his serial writing on “Young-ha’s Weather,” a paid email newsletter service. Loved by many for its deeply personal reflections and beautiful insights into a life lived only once, the book has reached the top of the best-seller list. Yang Gui-ja’s Contradiction, recognized as one of the greatest sleeper hits in Korean literature, has risen to second place, while her other novel I Desire What is Forbidden to Me, which poses a bold question about the oppression of women, is ranked fifteenth.

Han Kang’s new essay, Light and Thread—her first work since receiving the Nobel Prize—is third on the list. It comprises her Nobel lecture, and previously unpublished poems and journal entries on deep, enduring love, along with photographs she took herself. While Human Acts, characterized by Han Kang’s unique narrative voice and set against the backdrop of May 1980, takes fourth place, We Do Not Part, in which she delicately explores the tragedy of the Jeju April 3rd Incident, sits at eleventh place. Through these works, we are once again reminded of the past truths we must continue to uphold today, having endured a turbulent history. Alongside her new works, Han Kang’s signature pieces The Vegetarian, I Put Dinner in the Drawer, and The White Book ranks eighth, twelfth, and twentieth respectively, showing that her words continue to captivate the readers’ hearts.

As always, novels linger by our side, offering strength to carry on, and the following works secured top ranks: Seong Haena’s Honmono, which blurs the line between the real and the unreal, sits at fifth; Jung Dae-gun’s The Torrent, exploring the fearless love of the meek, is placed sixth; and Kim Keum-hee’s First Summer, Wanju, warmly weaving the tapestry of life with great care, holds seventh place. The 16th Young Writers’ Award-Winning Works 2025, a collection of seven stories that will mark a new direction for Korean literature, ranks tenth. The best-seller list is not reserved for novels alone, with essays like An Adult’s Happiness is Quiet by Taesu, A Happy Philosopher by Woo Ae-ryeong, and Meet at Our Paradise by Ha Tae-wan offering readers a tranquil refuge.

Meanwhile, following the success of the film The Old Woman with the Knife, featuring Lee Hye-young as “Hornclaw,” a female assassin in her sixties, Gu Byeong-mo’s original novel experienced a sudden resurgence in popularity. Placed at fourteenth, it confronts old age, loss and the meaning of existence with candor, and offers an ardent tribute to all that shines before fading away. A familiar presence, Park Joon brings Without Greeting, Without Farewell, a warmly received poetry collection, taking sixteenth place. Often hailed as this century’s “sociologist,” Kim Ae Ran captures in I Said “Annyeong,” the deep, underlying emotions embedded in particular settings through her distinctive, sharp insights and vivid prose, making a confident entry into the rankings.


Listed below are the top 20 bestselling Korean literary works for Q2 2025.

1. Kim Young-ha, Only One Life, Bokbokseoga Publishing Co.
2. Yang Gui-ja, Contradiction, Write Publishing Co.
3. Han Kang, Light and Thread, Moonji Publishing co., Ltd.
4. Han Kang, Human Acts, Changbi Publishers, Inc.
5. Seong Haena, Honmono, Changbi Publishers, Inc.
6. Jung Dae-gun, The Torrent, MINUMSA Publishing Group
7. Kim Keum-hee, First Summer, Wanju, Muze
8. Han Kang, The Vegetarian, Changbi Publishers, Inc.
9. Taesu, An Adult’s Happiness Is Quiet, Page2books
10. Baek Ohn-yu, et al., The 16th Anthology of Young Writers’ Award-Winning Works 2025, Munhakdongne Publishing Corp.
11. Han Kang, We Do Not Part, Munhakdongne Publishing Corp.
12. Han Kang, I Put Dinner in the Drawer, Moonji Publishing Co., Ltd.
13. Jung Haeyeon, The Place of Flamingo, Elixir
14. Gu Byeong-mo, The Old Woman with the Knife, Wisdom House, Inc.
15. Yang Gui-ja, I Desire What is Forbidden to Me, Write Publishing Co.
16. Park Joon, Without Greeting, Without Farewell, Changbi Publishers, Inc.
17. Woo Ae-ryeong, A Happy Philosopher, Haneuljae
18. Ha Tae-wan, Meet at Our Paradise, Book Romance
19. Kim Ae Ran, I Said “Annyeong,” Munhakdongne Publishing Corp.
20. Han Kang, The White Book, Munhakdongne Publishing Corp.




Written by Seojeong Lee(Korean Literature Outreach Team)


Translated by Lisa Kim 

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