Seoul's Gangbuk-gu has designated a road near novelist Han Kang's childhood home in Ui-dong as the "Nobel Literature Road," honoring the writer who became the first South Korean and the first Asian woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
The honorary road name applies to streets surrounding the traditional house in Ui-dong where Han spent her childhood and school years, nurturing the literary sensibility that would define her career. The designation aims to channel the surge of interest in Korean literature sparked by her Nobel win into a lasting cultural asset for the district — a symbolic space preserving the memory of her life and work.
The honorary road covers a total of 463 meters, comprising 307 meters of Samyang-ro 165-gil and 156 meters of part of Samyang-ro 169-gil. The name was chosen through both online and in-person resident preference surveys. "Nobel Literature Road" drew the strongest support, receiving 56.5 percent of online votes and 71.1 percent of in-person votes, and was confirmed as the final name.
After gathering resident input and clearing a review by the address information committee, the district officially announced the honorary road name in July. It plans to complete follow-up steps including installing road nameplates and registering the name in the address information system.
An honorary road name is a designation assigned alongside an existing official road name to highlight a locality's historical figures or cultural and tourism resources; the legal address continues to use the original road name.
"Han Kang's Nobel Prize in Literature marks a new milestone in the history of Korean literature," Gangbuk-gu District Mayor Jeong Chang-su said. "We will do our utmost to ensure that Nobel Literature Road becomes a space where people remember her literary world and share in the value of Korean literature."
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