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 Bae Myung-hoon Tower Bae Suah Time in Gray (Bi-lingual, Vol 44 – Avant Garde) TM Milena, Milena, Ecstatic TM Recitation TM Nowhere to be Found TM North Station TM A Greater Music TM Highway with Green Apples CM TM Untold Night and Day LKL TM 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 Unforgotten War The Jovian Sayings Bong Joon-ho Parasite: A Graphic Novel in Storyboards Ch'oe Myong-ik Walking in the Rain (Bi-lingual, Vol 94 – Colonial Intellectuals Turned “Idiots”) Ch'oe So-hae Escape (Bi-lingual, Vol 88 – The Naked in the Colony) Chae Man-sik Juvesenility (Bi-lingual, Vol 101 – Before and After Liberation) My Innocent Uncle Peace Under Heaven LKL Turbid River Sunset: A Ch’ae Manshik Reader TM 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 A Dwarf Launches a Little Ball Insult (Bi-lingual, Vol 79 – Fate) 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 Choe Yun The Last Of Hanako CM The Last of Hanak’o (Bi-lingual, Vol 13 – Women) CM TM Mannequin TM There a Petal Silently Falls: 3 stories LKL TM Choi Eun-young The Summer (K-Fiction 016) TM Shoko’s Smile Choi In-ho Another Man’s City TM Deep Blue Night (+ Poplar Tree) CM Tower of Ants (bilingual) CM Choi In-hun House of Idols CM The Daily Life of Ku-Poh the Novelist A Grey Man The Square TM Reflections on a Mask: Two Novellas LKL Choi In-seok A Well in My Soul (Bi-lingual, Vol 42 – Avant Garde) Choi Jin-young To the Warm Horizon 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 Chung Eul-byong A Divided Time Chung Han-ah Halloween (K-Fiction 018) TM Chung Yeun-hee One Human Family and Other Stories Dennis Wuerthner Tales of the Strange by a Korean Confucian Monk: Kŭmo sinhwa by Kim Sisŭp Eun Hee-kyung Poor Man’s Wife (Bi-lingual, Vol 15 – Women) CM Nobody Checks the Time When They’re Happy Beauty Looks Down on Me Geum Hee Ok-hwa (K-Fiction 009) TM Gong Ji-young Human Decency (Bi-lingual, Vol 14 – Women) CM Human Decency My Sister Bongsoon Our Happy Time LKL CM 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 Ha Ilji The Republic of Užupis LKL TM Ha Keun-chan The Suffering of Two Generations (Bi-lingual, Vol 27 – South and North) CM Ha Seongnan Traversing Afternoon (Bi-lingual, Vol 32 – Seoul) CM Flowers of Mold and Other Stories TM Bluebeard’s First Wife Hahn Moo-Sook The Running Water Hermitage The House of Pomegranate Trees Encounter In the Depths CM And So Flows History Han Chang-hoon Today’s Fortune (Bi-lingual, Vol 56 – Humour) Han Kang Europa TM Convalescence (Bi-lingual, Vol 24 – Love and Love Affairs) CM TM The Vegetarian LKL TM Human Acts LKL TM The White Book TM Han Mal-suk Chocolate Friend and Other Stories Hymn of the Spirit 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 Left’s Right, Right’s Left TM The Impossible Fairy Tale LKL TM Hong Hee-dam The Flag (Bi-lingual, Vol 19 – Liberty) Hong Yeon-sik 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 Road to Sampo (Bi-lingual, Vol 7 – Industrialization) TM The Prisoner The Guest LKL CM TM The Old Garden LKL TM The Shadow of Arms TM Familiar Things TM Princess Bari LKL TM At Dusk LKL TM Hwang Sun-mi Miracle on Cherry Hill The Dog Who Dared to Dream The Hen who Dreamed she could Fly LKL CM TM Hwang Sun-won Trees on the Cliff: a novel of Korea and two stories LKL CM TM The Stars and other Korean short stories Sunlight, Moonlight A Man CM The Cloudburst (Bi-lingual, Vol 106 – Korea After the Korean War) The Book of Masks Shadows of a Sound The Moving Fortress CM TM Trees on a Slope LKL CM TM The Descendants of Cain LKL CM Lost Souls: Stories LKL CM Hyeon Jin-geon A Lucky Day (Bi-lingual, Vol 87 – The Naked in the Colony) LKL Hyun Ki-young Aunt Suni CM One Spoon on This Earth TM Suni Samchon (Bi-lingual, Vol 3 – Division) LKL CM Hyun Kil-un Dead Silence LKL Im Cheol-woo With her oil lamp on, that night CM Straight Lines and Poison Gas – At the Hospital Wards (Bi-lingual, Vol 18 – Liberty) CM The Island The Dog Thief: Short Stories by Chul-Woo Lim Farewell Valley Jang Eun-jin No One Writes Back LKL CM TM Jang Jung-il When Adam Opens His Eyes LKL TM 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 Old Wrestler TM Bird (Bi-lingual, Vol 57 – Humour) Wolves LKL TM Jeong Do-sang Spring at Silsangsa Temple (Bi-lingual, Vol 29 – South and North) Jeong Ji-a Spring Afternoon, Three Widows (Bi-lingual, Vol 63 – Relationship) Jeong Ji-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 CM The Land of the Banished (Bi-lingual, Vol 5 – Division) CM Playing with Fire The Human Jungle CM TM How in Heaven’s Name LKL TM 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 He Gave Me Roses of the Balkans (Bi-lingual, Vol 72 – Taboo and Desire) My Son’s Girlfriend TM Jung Young-moon Mrs. Brown (Bi-lingual, Vol 45 – Avant Garde) Vaseline Buddha TM Seven Samurai Swept Away in a River TM A Most Ambiguous Sunday and Other Stories TM Arriving in a Thick Fog A Contrived World TM A Chain of Dark Tales LKL TM Kang Hwa-gil Demons TM Seo-u / Thou (K-Fiction 022) Kang Kyong-ae The Underground Village (Bi-lingual, Vol 90 – The Naked in the Colony) From Wonso Pond LKL The Underground Village TM Kang Shin-jae The Dandelion of the Imjin River The Waves Kang Sok-kyong The Valley Nearby LKL Kang Young-sook Truck (Bi-lingual, Vol 67 – Discovering Everyday Life) Rina TM Kim Aeran Where Would You Like To Go? (K-Fiction 014) TM Christmas Specials (Bi-lingual, Vol 35 – Seoul) CM TM My Brilliant Life Kim Bo-young On the Origin of Species and Other Stories I’m Waiting for You: 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 Cry Of The Magpies CM Tŭngsin-bul (Bi-lingual, Vol 107 – Korea After the Korean War) Ulhwa the Shaman: a novel of Korea and three short stories The Shaman Sorceress 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 Stab (Bi-lingual, Vol 23 – Love and Love Affairs) CM The Long Road LKL CM TM Kim Jae-young The Elephant (Bi-lingual, Vol 49 – Diaspora) CM Kim Joo-young A Trip Through the Mirror The Sound Of Thunder Robbery Training (Bi-lingual, Vol 61 – Relationship) Stingray LKL CM TM 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-uk God Has No Grandchildren Kim Man-jung 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 Barley (Bi-lingual, Vol 104 – Before and After Liberation) Scenes from the Enlightenment LKL TM Kim Sa-ryang Into the Light (Bi-lingual, Vol 95 – Colonial Intellectuals Turned “Idiots”) Kim Sagwa Mina LKL TM b, Book, and Me LKL TM 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 Divorce TM The Night Nobody Returns Home (Bi-lingual, Vol 73 – Taboo and Desire) One Left Kim Un-su The Plotters LKL Kim Wonil Soul of Darkness (Bi-lingual, Vol 2 – Division) CM The Wind And The River The Scorpion Evening Glow CM The House with a Sunken Courtyard CM TM 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 Photo Shop Murder CM TM Diary of a Murderer, and other stories LKL TM I have the right to destroy myself LKL CM TM I Hear Your Voice TM Black Flower LKL CM TM Your Republic Is Calling You LKL CM 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) Spring Night (Bi-lingual, Vol 55 – Family) Lee Beomseon A Stray Bullet (Bi-lingual, Vol 110 – Korea After the Korean War) Lee Dae-hwan Slow Bullet (Bi-lingual, Vol 17 – Liberty) CM Lee Dong-ha A Toy City CM Outside the Door (Bi-lingual, Vol 53 – Family) Toy City Shrapnel and Other Stories: Selected Stories of Dong-ha Lee Lee Hye-kyung And Then the Festival (Bi-lingual, Vol 54 – Family) A House on the Road Lee Hyemi Unexpected Vanilla Lee Jang-wook Old Man River (K-Fiction 011) TM Lee Ji-min Marilyn and Me LKL Lee Jung-myung The Investigation LKL CM TM The Boy who Escaped Paradise LKL Lee Ki-ho Kwon Sun-chan and Nice People (K-Fiction 012) CM TM So Far, and Yet So Near (Bi-lingual, Vol 58 – Humour) At Least we can Apologize LKL CM TM 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 Oisoo Grand Master (Bi-lingual, Vol 81 – Aesthetic Priests) Lee Oyoung The General’s Beard: Two Novellas Lee Seung-u Magnolia Park (Bi-lingual, Vol 22 – Love and Love Affairs) The Private Life of Plants TM The Reverse Side of Life Lee Soho Catcalling Lee Soon-won Looking for a Horse (Bi-lingual, Vol 82 – Aesthetic Priests) Lee Sun-won Susaek Marshall R Pihl The Korean Singer of Tales 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 Seaside Village (Bi-lingual, Vol 100 – Traditional Korea’s Lost Faces) The Good People: Korean Stories CM Oh Han-ki My Clint Eastwood (K-Fiction 004) CM TM Oh Jung-hee Chinatown (Modern Korean Short Stories) Chinatown (Bi-lingual, Vol 11 – Women) Chinatown CM River of Fire and Other Stories TM The Bird LKL TM Oh Soo-yeon I Am Food (Bi-lingual, Vol 66 – Discovering Everyday Life) 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 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 Land (Vol 1) Land (Vols 1, 2 and 3) LKL The Curse of Kim’s Daughters 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 Late Rainy Season Vacation Park Sangseek Land of Tears Park Seongwon What Makes a City Park Wan-suh Three Days in That Autumn CM Mother’s Stake I (Bi-lingual, Vol 4 – Division) CM Weathered Blossom (bilingual) CM Was that Mountain Really There? My Very Last Possession and Other Stories The Naked Tree A Sketch of the Fading Sun Who Ate Up All the Shinga? LKL TM Lonesome You LKL CM TM Philip Onho Lee Olympic Boulevard 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 The Hole LKL TM City of Ash and Red The Law of Lines Seo Chong-in Three Days of Autumn, 1948 (Bi-lingual, Vol 36 – Tradition) Seo Hajin Hong Gildong CM A Good Family Seo Miae The Only Child LKL Seo Young-eun A Walk In The Mountains (bilingual) Shin Kyung-sook Violet The Place Where the Harmonium Was (Bi-lingual, Vol 12 – Women) CM The Girl who Wrote Loneliness LKL TM I’ll be right there LKL CM TM Please Look After Mother LKL TM The Court Dancer TM Shin Sang-ung Three Voices at Midnight CM Our Friend’s Homecoming (Bi-lingual, Vol 9 – Industrialization) CM Shin Young-bok 20 Years 20 Days: Reflections from Prison 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 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 Korean Singer of Tales The Song of Ch’unhyang: Musical Text as compiled by Master Singer Kim Yŏn-su Eerie Tales from Old Korea CM Premodern Korean Literary Prose: An Anthology TM The Tale of Cho Ung TM Yang Gui-ja Rust CM TM The poet of Wonmi-dong (Bi-lingual, Vol 10 – Industrialization) CM Contradictions CM TM Strength from Sorrow A Distant and Beautiful Place TM Yi Cheong-jun The Wounded (Bi-lingual, Vol 1 – Division) CM The Snowy Road (bilingual) CM The Wounded CM Your Paradise Two Stories From Korea: The Wounded & The Abject The Prophet and Other Stories Seopyeonje, the Southerners’ Songs Yi Ho-cheol Panmunjom (Bi-lingual, Vol 26 – South and North) Southerners, Northerners Panmunjom and Other Stories Yi Hyo-seok Leaves of Grass (Bi-lingual, Vol 103 – Before and After Liberation) Endless Blue Sky TM Yi In-hwa Everlasting Empire Yi In-seong On You (Bi-lingual, Vol 43 – Avant Garde) Yi Kwang-su Kashil and Best Essays by Yi Kwang-su The Soil LKL TM Mujong (The Heartless): Yi Kwang-Su and Modern Literature TM Yi Mun-gu A Brief Biography of Yuja (Bi-lingual, Vol 37 – Tradition) Yi Mun-yol Appointment with my brother CM TM Pilon’s Pig (Bi-lingual, Vol 16 – Liberty) CM TM Hail To The Emperor! Twofold Song (bilingual) Meeting with my brother TM Son of Man TM Our Twisted Hero LKL TM The Poet LKL CM TM Yi Sang The Wings CM Wings (Bi-lingual, Vol 91 – Colonial Intellectuals Turned “Idiots”) Yi Sang: Selected Works Yi Tae-jun An Idiot’s Delight (Bi-lingual, Vol 98 – Traditional Korea’s Lost Faces) Dust and other stories TM Eastern Sentiments CM 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 Between Heaven and Earth Song of Everlasting Spring (Bi-lingual, Vol 83 – Aesthetic Priests) Yu Chin-o Lecturer Kim and Professor T (Bi-lingual, Vol 92 – Colonial Intellectuals Turned “Idiots”) Yun Dong-ju Sky, Wind and Stars CM 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 October 2020, 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.
