"Han Kang's contact with the Nobel Prize is unexpected...Dinner with my son. A normal day".

A Swedish Academy official said that Han Kang (53), a novelist who was the first Korean to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, was not expecting to win the prize at all when he was contacted.

Mats Malm, a lifetime member of the Hall of Fame who announced the Nobel Prize winner, said, "She was having a normal day, and it felt like she had just finished dinner with her son."

"Han Kang was not expecting to win the Nobel Prize in Literature," he said, adding that he discussed with Han Kang preparations for the Nobel Prize ceremony to be held in December.