Han Kang won the Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday, becoming the first South Korean author to be so honored. The Swedish Academy announced Han as this year's laureate, recognizing the 53-year-old "for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life." Han is the first Asian female winner in literature and the second South Korean Nobel laureate after former President Kim Dae-jung, who was awarded the peace prize in 2000. Source: Yonhap News Agency