Pachinko

The internationally acclaimed Korean version of Pachinko, which

depicts the lives of four Koreans in Japan, will be published in Korea

three months after it was out of print due to a publishing contract issue.

The influencer, which newly published a historical novel by

Korean-American writer Lee Min-jin, will be published in two volumes,

the first volume on July 27 and before the end of August.

In April, the publisher Literature Thought, which first published the

Korean version of the book in 2018, announced that it had failed to

renew its contract with Eric Yang Agency, which represents the author.

Despite the growing popularity of the title after the release of Apple

TV+'s drama of the same name, it eventually pulled out the remaining

copies from the shelves in the domestic market.

"The first edition of the book contains many mistranslations," Seo

Geum-sun of influencer Co., Ltd. told local news media. There was an

inconsistent mixture of freely translated phrases and literally translated

expressions. In the revised edition, our goal was to better preserve the

author's intentions within the page."

The publication, translated by Shin Seung-mi, will also feature a

novelist's "letter to Korean readers," according to the publisher.

Meanwhile, Lee Min-ho's "Pachinko" deals with the miserable survival of

ethnic Koreans during the 1910-45 Japanese occupation and

subsequent Japanese occupation as it follows an immigrant family's

struggle to find a sense of belonging and reaffirm their hybrid identity.

Many Koreans were mobilized to work in coal mines, military

construction sites, and factories for the first time during the colonial era,

forming one of Japan's largest minorities, and have long been the

subject of hate speech and discrimination in Japanese society.

The book is titled after the popular pinball-like slot machine in the

country. Running a Pachinko shop was one of the few viable means of

making a living for ethnic Koreans in the mid-20th century.

In 2017, "Pachinko" was named one of the New York Times' 10 Best

Books of the Year and was shortlisted for the National Book Awards.

In March this year, it was adapted into an original drama series of the

same name on Apple TV+, starring Academy Award-winning Yoon

Yeo-jung, Kim Min-ha and Lee Min-ho. The show's popularity in Korea

led the novel to become a bestseller in April.

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