"I didn't expect it".European Media Surprised by the Han River Nobel Prize for Literature

European media responded to the news of author Han Kang's Nobel Prize in Literature, saying, "The result is beyond expectations."

The French daily Le Figaro reported the news as a main story on its website, saying it had "rebounded the expectations of online betting sites."

"The selection of this year's winner will surprise the cultural elite," daily Riveracion said, conveying a prediction by a Swedish daily newspaper's literature officer, "Others bet on Kanshe in China and Haruki Murakami in Japan, but the winner was the Han River in Korea."

"Han Kang has been devoted to art and music as well as writing, and this is reflected in his entire literary work," Le Monde said.

The British daily Guardian also focused on the news of Han River's award and introduced, "He has explored various themes such as patriarchy, violence, sadness, and humanity through novels and essays."

"The characteristic of Han River prose is that it writes very terrible things metaphorically and very poeticly," Russian literary critic Natalia Romikina said. "It is interesting that the Nobel Committee presented the Nobel Prize for literature to Korean writers for the first time, emphasizing a new literary trend, poet's prose by choosing women and poets."