Here is a list of Korean literature in translation, in alphabetical order of author, where that author is the sole author represented in the publication. It includes collections of short stories by that author. A listing of multi-author anthologies can be found here . If you think I’ve missed a title, let me know via the contact form at the bottom of this page.
To find short stories by a particular author that have been included in multi-author anthologies, click on the author’s name and you’ll be taken to that author’s page on this site which has more detail on short stories (if any) that have been anthologised.
The listing contains links to reviews, where available, written by LKL, Charles Montgomery (CM – mainly on KTLit.com) and Tony Malone (TM – on Tony’s Reading List). The star rating, where given, is LKL’s. As explained here , the rating system is entirely unscientific.
Author Title Rating LKL CM TM Ahn Do-hyun The Salmon Who Dared to Leap Higher LKL Ahn Jung-hyo White Badge: A Novel of Korea LKL Silver Stallion LKL Ancco Nineteen Bad Friends Bae Myung-hoon Tower LKL Bae Suah Nowhere to be Found TM Untold Night and Day LKL TM Time in Gray (Bi-lingual, Vol 44 – Avant Garde) TM Milena, Milena, Ecstatic TM Recitation TM Highway with Green Apples CM TM A Greater Music TM North Station TM Baek Heena Moon Pops Magic Candies Baek Young-ok How to Break Up Like a Winner (K-Fiction 024) Baik Sou-linne Time Difference (K-Fiction 010) TM Bandi The Accusation: Forbidden Stories from Inside North Korea LKL TM Bang Hyeon-seok Off to Battle at Dawn (Bi-lingual, Vol 20 – Liberty) CM Time to Eat Lobster: Contemporary Korean Stories on Memories of the Vietnam War Bok Geo-il The Jovian Sayings The Unforgotten War Bong Joon-ho Parasite: A Graphic Novel in Storyboards Chae Man-sik Turbid River Peace Under Heaven LKL Sunset: A Ch’ae Manshik Reader TM My Innocent Uncle Korean Drama Under Japanese Occupation Juvesenility (Bi-lingual, Vol 101 – Before and After Liberation) Chang Kang-myoung Fired (K-Fiction 013) TM Chang Yong-hak The Poetry of John (Bi-lingual, Vol 108 – Korea After the Korean War) Cheon Hee-rahn Five Preludes and a Fugue TM Cheon Kwang-yong Kapitan Ri (Bi-lingual, Vol 105 – Before and After Liberation Cheon Myeong-kwan Homecoming (K-Fiction 008) CM TM Modern Family LKL TM Cheon Un-yeong Chopstick Woman (Bi-lingual, Vol 74 – Taboo and Desire) The Catcher in the Loft LKL TM Cho Hae-il America CM Cho Hae-jin I Met Loh Kiwan Cho Nam-joo Run Away (K-Fiction 023) Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 LKL Cho Se-hui Insult (Bi-lingual, Vol 79 – Fate) A Dwarf Launches a Little Ball The Dwarf TM Cho Son-jak The Preview and Other Stories CM Choe Cheong-hui The Cry of the Harp and other Korean short stories CM The Cry of the Harp: Selected Works of Choe Chung-Hui Ch'oe Myong-ik Walking in the Rain (Bi-lingual, Vol 94 – Colonial Intellectuals Turned “Idiots”) Choi Seohae Escape (Bi-lingual, Vol 88 – The Naked in the Colony) Choe Yun There a Petal Silently Falls: 3 stories LKL TM Mannequin TM The Last Of Hanako CM The Last of Hanak’o (Bi-lingual, Vol 13 – Women) CM TM Choi Eun-young The Summer (K-Fiction 016) TM Shoko’s Smile Choi In-ho Tower of Ants (bilingual) CM Another Man’s City TM Deep Blue Night (+ Poplar Tree) CM Choi In-hun Reflections on a Mask: Two Novellas LKL A Grey Man House of Idols CM The Square TM The Daily Life of Ku-Poh the Novelist Choi In-seok A Well in My Soul (Bi-lingual, Vol 42 – Avant Garde) Choi Jin-young To the Warm Horizon TM Choi Min-woo Dishonored (K-Fiction 005) CM TM Chong Han-sook Bridge Iyo Island CM Chu Yo-seop Mama and the Boarder (Bi-lingual, Vol 99 – Traditional Korea’s Lost Faces) Chun Seung-sei Hye-ja’s Snow-Flowers (Bi-lingual, Vol 51 – Family) Chung Bora Cursed Bunny TM Chung Eul-byong A Divided Time Chung Han-ah Halloween (K-Fiction 018) TM Chung Yeun-hee One Human Family and Other Stories Eun Hee-kyung Nobody Checks the Time When They’re Happy Poor Man’s Wife (Bi-lingual, Vol 15 – Women) CM Beauty Looks Down on Me Keum Suk Gendry-Kim The Waiting Grass Geum Hee Ok-hwa (K-Fiction 009) TM Gong Ji-young Our Happy Time LKL CM My Sister Bongsoon Human Decency (Bi-lingual, Vol 14 – Women) CM Human Decency Gong Sun-ok People I Left in Shanghai (Bi-lingual, Vol 47 – Diaspora) Gu Byeong-mo The Story of P.C. (K-Fiction 019) TM The Old Woman with the Knife Ha Keun-chan The Suffering of Two Generations (Bi-lingual, Vol 27 – South and North) CM Ha Seong-nan Traversing Afternoon (Bi-lingual, Vol 32 – Seoul) CM Bluebeard’s First Wife Flowers of Mold and Other Stories TM Ha Ilji The Republic of Užupis LKL TM Ham Se-dok Plays of Colonial Korea Han Chang-hoon Today’s Fortune (Bi-lingual, Vol 56 – Humour) Han Kang Convalescence (Bi-lingual, Vol 24 – Love and Love Affairs) CM TM Europa TM The White Book TM Human Acts LKL TM The Vegetarian LKL TM Han Mal-suk Hymn of the Spirit Chocolate Friend and Other Stories Hahn Moo-Sook The House of Pomegranate Trees Encounter And So Flows History The Running Water Hermitage In the Depths CM Han Seol-ya Transition (Bi-lingual, Vol 89 – The Naked in the Colony) Han Sorya and North Korean Literature (+ Jackals) Han Soosan Floating Grass Han Sung-won Father and Son Han Yujoo The Impossible Fairy Tale LKL TM Left’s Right, Right’s Left TM Hong Hee-dam The Flag (Bi-lingual, Vol 19 – Liberty) Hong Sung-hwa First Kyu Hong Yeon-sik Uncomfortably Happily Umma’s Table Hwang Jungeun Kong’s Garden (K-Fiction 006) TM Kong’s Garden (Yeoyu) TM One Hundred Shadows LKL TM I’ll Go On LKL TM Hwang Sok-yong The Guest LKL CM TM The Road to Sampo (Bi-lingual, Vol 7 – Industrialization) TM The Old Garden LKL TM At Dusk LKL TM Princess Bari LKL TM The Shadow of Arms TM Familiar Things TM Hwang Sun-mi The Hen who Dreamed she could Fly LKL CM TM The Dog Who Dared to Dream Miracle on Cherry Hill Hwang Sun-won Trees on the Cliff: a novel of Korea and two stories LKL CM TM The Descendants of Cain LKL CM Trees on a Slope LKL CM TM The Moving Fortress CM TM Lost Souls: Stories LKL CM The Stars and other Korean short stories The Cloudburst (Bi-lingual, Vol 106 – Korea After the Korean War) Shadows of a Sound A Man CM The Book of Masks Sunlight, Moonlight Hyeon Jin-geon A Lucky Day (Bi-lingual, Vol 87 – The Naked in the Colony) LKL Hyun Ki-young One Spoon on This Earth TM Suni Samchon (Bi-lingual, Vol 3 – Division) LKL CM Aunt Suni CM Hyun Kil-un Dead Silence LKL Ilyon Samguk Yusa: Legends and History of the Three Kingdoms of Ancient Korea Im Bang Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies Im Cheol-woo Straight Lines and Poison Gas – At the Hospital Wards (Bi-lingual, Vol 18 – Liberty) CM The Dog Thief: Short Stories by Chul-Woo Lim Farewell Valley The Island With her oil lamp on, that night CM Im Seong-sun The Consultant Jang Eun-jin No One Writes Back LKL CM TM Jang Jung-il When Adam Opens His Eyes LKL TM Jang Ryu-jin Maya in Tokyo (K-Fiction 027) Jeon Gyeong-rin I Drift on Unknown Waters in a Glass Boat Jeon Sang-guk Ahbe’s Family (Bi-lingual, Vol 52 – Family) Jeon Sung-tae Bird (Bi-lingual, Vol 57 – Humour) Wolves LKL TM Old Wrestler TM Jeong Do-sang Spring at Silsangsa Temple (Bi-lingual, Vol 29 – South and North) Jeong Ho-seung Loving Lonesome Jar Jeong Ji-a The Black Room (K-Fiction 026) Spring Afternoon, Three Widows (Bi-lingual, Vol 63 – Relationship) Jeong Yi-hyun In the Trunk (Bi-lingual, Vol 25 – Love and Love Affairs) Jeong You-jeong The Good Son LKL Seven Years of Darkness LKL Jo Jung-rae The Land of the Banished (Bi-lingual, Vol 5 – Division) CM The Human Jungle CM TM How in Heaven’s Name LKL TM The Land of the Banished CM Playing with Fire Jo Kyung-ran I Live in Bongcheon-dong (Bi-lingual, Vol 33 – Seoul) TM Tongue LKL CM Jung Chan The Cozy Path Jung Mi-kyung My Son’s Girlfriend TM He Gave Me Roses of the Balkans (Bi-lingual, Vol 72 – Taboo and Desire) Jung Young-moon Vaseline Buddha TM Arriving in a Thick Fog A Most Ambiguous Sunday and Other Stories TM A Contrived World TM A Chain of Dark Tales LKL TM Seven Samurai Swept Away in a River TM Mrs. Brown (Bi-lingual, Vol 45 – Avant Garde) Kang Hwa-gil Demons TM Seo-u / Thou (K-Fiction 022) Kang Kyong-ae The Underground Village TM The Underground Village (Bi-lingual, Vol 90 – The Naked in the Colony) From Wonso Pond LKL Kang Shin-jae The Waves The Dandelion of the Imjin River Kang Sok-kyong The Valley Nearby LKL Kang Young-sook Rina TM Truck (Bi-lingual, Vol 67 – Discovering Everyday Life) Kim Aeran My Brilliant Life TM Where Would You Like To Go? (K-Fiction 014) TM Christmas Specials (Bi-lingual, Vol 35 – Seoul) CM TM Kim Bo-young I’m Waiting for You: And Other Stories On the Origin of Species and Other Stories Kim Byeol-ah Sakmae and Jami (Bi-lingual, Vol 84 – Aesthetic Priests) Kim Chong-kwang The Pawnshop Chase (Bi-lingual, Vol 60 – Humour) Kim Dong-in Potatoes (Bi-lingual, Vol 86 – The Naked in the Colony) Sweet Potato: Collected Short Stories TM Kim Dong-ni The Cross of Shaphan The Shaman Sorceress Ulhwa the Shaman: a novel of Korea and three short stories Tŭngsin-bul (Bi-lingual, Vol 107 – Korea After the Korean War) The Cry Of The Magpies CM Kim Ha-kee Gingko Love (Bi-lingual, Vol 30 – South and North) Kim Hoon Alone Over There (Bi-lingual, Vol 85 – Aesthetic Priests) Kim In-suk The Long Road LKL CM TM Stab (Bi-lingual, Vol 23 – Love and Love Affairs) CM Kim Jae-young The Elephant (Bi-lingual, Vol 49 – Diaspora) CM Kim Joo-young The Sound Of Thunder Stingray LKL CM TM Robbery Training (Bi-lingual, Vol 61 – Relationship) A Trip Through the Mirror Kim Jung-hyuk The Glass Shield (Bi-lingual, Vol 59 – Humour) The Library of Musical Instruments Kim Keum-hee Everything About Chess (K-Fiction 017) TM Kim Kyung-ju Bred from the Eyes of a Wolf Kim Kyung-uk God Has No Grandchildren Kim Man-jung The Cloud Dream of the Nine, a Korean Novel: A Story of the Times of the Tangs of China About 840 A.D The Nine Cloud Dream TM Kim Mi-wol What Has Yet to Happen (Bi-lingual, Vol 75 – Taboo and Desire) CM Kim Min-jeong The World’s Most Expensive Novel (K-Fiction 015) TM Kim Moon-soo The Chronicle of Manchwidang Kim Nam-il Underwear (Bi-lingual, Vol 46 – Diaspora) Kim Namcheon Scenes from the Enlightenment LKL TM Barley (Bi-lingual, Vol 104 – Before and After Liberation) Kim Sa-ryang Into the Light (Bi-lingual, Vol 95 – Colonial Intellectuals Turned “Idiots”) Kim Sagwa b, Book, and Me LKL TM Mina LKL TM Kim San Song of Arirang: The Story of a Korean Rebel Revolutionary in China Kim Seong-dong Mandala LKL Kim Seung-ok Record of a journey to Mujin (Bi-lingual, Vol 6 – Industrialization) CM Kim Si-seup Tales of the Strange by a Korean Confucian Monk: Kŭmo sinhwa by Kim Sisŭp Kim So-jin The Dark Jar within the Snowman (Bi-lingual, Vol 31 – Seoul) Kim Soom The Night Nobody Returns Home (Bi-lingual, Vol 73 – Taboo and Desire) Divorce TM One Left LKL TM Kim Tae-woong The Clowns Kim Un-su The Cabinet The Plotters LKL Kim Wonil The Wind And The River The House with a Sunken Courtyard CM TM The Scorpion Soul of Darkness (Bi-lingual, Vol 2 – Division) CM Evening Glow CM Kim Yeon-su Happy New Year to Everyone – To Raymond Carver (Bi-lingual, Vol 48 – Diaspora) CM Kim Yideum Blood Sisters LKL TM Kim Young-ha I Hear Your Voice TM Photo Shop Murder CM TM Your Republic Is Calling You LKL CM TM Black Flower LKL CM TM I have the right to destroy myself LKL CM TM Diary of a Murderer, and other stories LKL TM Kim Yu-jeong The Camellias CM Spring, Spring (Bi-lingual, Vol 96 – Traditional Korea’s Lost Faces) Ko Un Little Pilgrim Ku Hyo-seo Relics (Bi-lingual, Vol 78 – Fate) Kwon Yeo-sun An Unknown Realm (K-Fiction 020) Lemon Spring Night (Bi-lingual, Vol 55 – Family) Lee Dae-hwan Slow Bullet (Bi-lingual, Vol 17 – Liberty) CM Lee Dong-ha Shrapnel and Other Stories: Selected Stories of Dong-ha Lee Toy City A Toy City CM Outside the Door (Bi-lingual, Vol 53 – Family) Lee Gun-sam A Grand Retreat and Other Plays Lee Hye-kyung A House on the Road And Then the Festival (Bi-lingual, Vol 54 – Family) Lee Jang-wook Old Man River (K-Fiction 011) TM Lee Ji-min Marilyn and Me LKL Lee Jung-myung Painter of the Wind The Investigation LKL CM TM The Boy who Escaped Paradise LKL Lee Ki-ho At Least we can Apologize LKL CM TM Kwon Sun-chan and Nice People (K-Fiction 012) CM TM So Far, and Yet So Near (Bi-lingual, Vol 58 – Humour) Lee Kyun-young The Other Side of Dark Remembrance CM Lee Kyung Dust Star (Bi-lingual, Vol 50 – Diaspora) Lee Kyung-ja Losing a Sister (Bi-lingual, Vol 76 – Fate) CM Lee Mu-young Farmers Lee Myung-jin Ragnarok LKL Lee Oisoo Grand Master (Bi-lingual, Vol 81 – Aesthetic Priests) Lee Oyoung The General’s Beard: Two Novellas Philip Onho Lee Olympic Boulevard Lee Seung-u The Reverse Side of Life The Private Life of Plants TM Magnolia Park (Bi-lingual, Vol 22 – Love and Love Affairs) Lee Sun-won Looking for a Horse (Bi-lingual, Vol 82 – Aesthetic Priests) Susaek Lee Yun-taek Four Contemporary Korean Plays Ma Yeong-shin Moms Na Do-hyang Samnyong the Mute (Bi-lingual, Vol 97 – Traditional Korea’s Lost Faces) Nam Jung-hyun Land of Excrement (Bi-lingual, Vol 28 – South and North) CM O Yong-su The Good People: Korean Stories CM Seaside Village (Bi-lingual, Vol 100 – Traditional Korea’s Lost Faces) Oh Han-ki My Clint Eastwood (K-Fiction 004) CM TM Oh Jung-hee River of Fire and Other Stories TM The Bird LKL TM Chinatown (Modern Korean Short Stories) Chinatown (Bi-lingual, Vol 11 – Women) Chinatown CM Oh Soo-yeon I Am Food (Bi-lingual, Vol 66 – Discovering Everyday Life) Oh Tae-seok The Metacultural Theater of Oh T’ae-Sok: Five Plays from the Korean Avant-garde Paek Nam-nyong Friend LKL TM Pahk Yon-hee The Man she Loved Paik Ga-huim Puy, Thuy, Whatever (Bi-lingual, Vol 65 – Relationship) Pak Chiwon The Novels of Park Jiwon: Translation of Overlooked Worlds Pak Chong-wha King Sejong: A Novel Pak Pom-sin The Fragrant Well (Bi-lingual, Vol 38 – Tradition) Pak Tae-won A Day in the Life of Kubo the Novelist (Bi-lingual, Vol 93 – Colonial Intellectuals Turned “Idiots”) Scenes from Ch’onggye Stream Park Duk-kyu The Rabbit’s Tale 2020 Park Hyoung-su Arpan (K-Fiction 002) TM Park Kyung-ni The Curse of Kim’s Daughters LKL Land (Vol 1) Land (Vols 1, 2 and 3) LKL Park Min-gyu Dinner with Buffett (K-Fiction 001) CM TM Is That So? I’m a Giraffe (Bi-lingual, Vol 34 – Seoul) Pavane for a Dead Princess LKL TM Park Sang-ryoong Akeldama (Bi-lingual, Vol 41 – Avant Garde) CM Park Sang-young Love in the Big City Park Sangseek Land of Tears Park Seongwon What Makes a City Park Wan-suh Who Ate Up All the Shinga? LKL TM Lonesome You LKL CM TM Mother’s Stake I (Bi-lingual, Vol 4 – Division) CM The Naked Tree Three Days in That Autumn CM My Very Last Possession and Other Stories A Sketch of the Fading Sun Was that Mountain Really There? Weathered Blossom (bilingual) CM Pu Hee-ryoung Flowers (Bi-lingual, Vol 69 – Discovering Everyday Life) Pyun Hye-young The Canning Factory (Bi-lingual, Vol 68 – Discovering Everyday Life) LKL Evening Proposal LKL TM Holiday Home (K-Fiction 028) City of Ash and Red LKL The Hole LKL TM The Law of Lines LKL Seo Chong-in Three Days of Autumn, 1948 (Bi-lingual, Vol 36 – Tradition) Seo Hajin A Good Family Hong Gildong CM Seo Jang-won Happy Together (K-Fiction 029) Seo Miae The Only Child LKL Seo Young-eun A Walk In The Mountains (bilingual) Shin Kyung-sook The Place Where the Harmonium Was (Bi-lingual, Vol 12 – Women) CM The Girl who Wrote Loneliness LKL TM Violets I’ll be right there LKL CM TM Please Look After Mother LKL TM The Court Dancer TM Shin Sang-ung Our Friend’s Homecoming (Bi-lingual, Vol 9 – Industrialization) CM Three Voices at Midnight CM Sohn Jang-soon A Floating City on the Water Sohn So-hi The Wind from the South Sohn Won-pyung April Snow (K-Fiction 021) Almond TM Son Bo-mi Hot Air Balloon (K-Fiction 003) CM TM Son Chang-seop Rainy Days (Bi-lingual, Vol 109 – Korea After the Korean War) Son Hong-kyu Tuesday River (Bi-lingual, Vol 80 – Fate) The Muslim Butcher Song Ki-won A Journey under the Moonlight (Bi-lingual, Vol 39 – Tradition) Song Kijo Debasement and Other Stories Song Sokze In the Shade of the Oleander (Bi-lingual, Vol 40 – Tradition) The Amusing Life LKL Song Yong Drumbeat (Bi-lingual, Vol 71 – Taboo and Desire) Diary of a Vagabond Suh Ki-won The Image of Virgin Mary in Chosun White Porcelain The Ma Rok Biographies CM Trad / anon The Record of the Black Dragon Year Unyŏng-jŏn: A Love Affair at the Royal Palace of Chosŏn Korea The Tale of Cho Ung TM The Song of Ch’unhyang: Musical Text as compiled by Master Singer Kim Yŏn-su The Foresight of Dark Knowing: Chŏng Kam Nok and Insurrectionary Prognostication in Pre-Modern Korea Traditional Korean Theatre The Korean Singer of Tales Woo Da-young Chang-mo (K-Fiction 025) Yang Gui-ja Rust CM TM Contradictions CM TM The poet of Wonmi-dong (Bi-lingual, Vol 10 – Industrialization) CM Strength from Sorrow A Distant and Beautiful Place TM Yi Cheong-jun The Wounded CM The Wounded (Bi-lingual, Vol 1 – Division) CM The Snowy Road (bilingual) CM The Prophet and Other Stories Your Paradise Two Stories From Korea: The Wounded & The Abject Seopyeonje, the Southerners’ Songs Yi Deok-mu The Aphorisms of Yi Deok-mu: Musings of a Grateful Reader Yi Ho-cheol Panmunjom (Bi-lingual, Vol 26 – South and North) Southerners, Northerners Panmunjom and Other Stories Yi Hyo-seok Endless Blue Sky TM Leaves of Grass (Bi-lingual, Vol 103 – Before and After Liberation) Yi In-hwa Everlasting Empire LKL Yi In-seong On You (Bi-lingual, Vol 43 – Avant Garde) Yi Kang-baek Allegory of Survival: The Theater of Kang-baek Lee Yi Kwang-su Mujong (The Heartless): Yi Kwang-Su and Modern Literature TM The Soil LKL TM Kashil and Best Essays by Yi Kwang-su Yi Mun-gu A Brief Biography of Yuja (Bi-lingual, Vol 37 – Tradition) Yi Mun-yol The Poet LKL CM TM Our Twisted Hero LKL TM Son of Man TM Meeting with my brother TM Appointment with my brother CM TM An Anonymous Island Pilon’s Pig (Bi-lingual, Vol 16 – Liberty) CM TM Hail To The Emperor! Twofold Song (bilingual) Lee Beomseon A Stray Bullet (Bi-lingual, Vol 110 – Korea After the Korean War) Yi Ryuk Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies Yi Sang Wings (Bi-lingual, Vol 91 – Colonial Intellectuals Turned “Idiots”) The Wings CM Yi Tae-jun Dust and other stories TM An Idiot’s Delight (Bi-lingual, Vol 98 – Traditional Korea’s Lost Faces) Yom Sang-seop Two Bankruptcies (Bi-lingual, Vol 102 – Before and After Liberation) Three Generations LKL TM Yoon Jung-mo Father and Son (Bi-lingual, Vol 77 – Fate) Yoon Sung-hee Burying a Treasure Map at the U-turn (Bi-lingual, Vol 64 – Relationship) Youn Dae-nyeong Song of Everlasting Spring (Bi-lingual, Vol 83 – Aesthetic Priests) Between Heaven and Earth Yu Chi-jin Three Plays: The Cow – The Mud Hut – The Donkey Korean Drama Under Japanese Occupation Yu Chin-o Lecturer Kim and Professor T (Bi-lingual, Vol 92 – Colonial Intellectuals Turned “Idiots”) Yun Heung-gil The Rainy Spell CM The Man Who Was Left as Nine Pairs of Shoes (Bi-lingual, Vol 8 – Industrialization) CM Yun Hu-myeong The Love of Dunhuang With the Love for the Stars (Bi-lingual, Vol 21) Yun I-hyeong Danny (K-fiction 007) TM Bloody-Sunday (Bi-lingual, Vol 70 – Discovering Everyday Life) Yun Ko-eun The Disaster Tourist LKL Table for One: Stories Yun Young-su Love, Hopelessly (Bi-lingual, Vol 62 – Relationship)
We think the above list is pretty comprehensive as at July 2021, though we might have missed a couple in the back catalogue. Help keep this resource complete and up-to-date by letting us know of Korean fiction titles in English translation that aren’t listed above.
