In parliament, applause erupted and meetings were paused. On social media, the leader of the country's largest party, the Democratic Party's Lee Jae-Myung, declared that the whole thing must be seen as an encouragement to the entire nation.
And he himself was not unmoved.
"An uplifted feeling that spread throughout my entire body," he writes in his post about the impact of the news.
The DP leader praises Han Kang for using literature to heal Korea's modern history, which encompasses successes and very dark moments.
The prize to the 53-year-old author is also seen as evidence that the country's cultural influence in the world is increasing. It comes after film director Bong Joon-Ho's Oscar-winning "Parasite", the Netflix series "Squid Game", and successes for K-pop groups BTS and Blackpink, notes Korea Times.
"This is a major breakthrough for Korean literature, which has now secured a prominent position."
President Yoon Suk-Yeol says in a statement that the prize is a great success in Korean literary history and for the nation.
"You have created great literature from the painful wounds of our modern history," the president writes.
And the prize winner herself? Newspaper readers and TV viewers will have to make do with the Swedish Academy's interview with her on their website.
