In order to keep global peace and sustain a safe world,
many heads of state would gather at the UN for summit meetings.
On the other hand, there are those who were never officially sent,
but who claim that they represent their own countries.
Such people have gathered for a Non Summit Meeting for the peace of world's youths.
(Episode 163)
We hereby open up the floor.
I'm Jeon Hyun-moo, the chairman of the borderless youth committee, Non-summit.
I'm Secretary General Yoo Se-yoon.
I'm Chairman Sung Si-kyung.
We're Jeon-Yoo-Sung!
(Welcome, Representatives!)
Let's introduce today's visiting representative.
Representative from Britain, please introduce yourself.
Hello, I'm Jame from Bedford, United Kingdom.
(Welcome!)
I came to Korea about 2 years ago and worked as an English teacher.
I'm studying language in Yonsei University.
Good projection of voice!
I don't think he needs a microphone.
He's got a great voice.
Like an opera singer.
What kind of a town is Bedford?
Actually, it's not a famous place at all.
It's just a small town, I'm sorry.
But we do have a long history we're proud of.
The school I'm from, Bedford School, first opened in 1552.
It's older than America.
By 200 years!
(Started humbly yet finished by showing off)
That's amazing.
We also have a Swedish representative, Oscar.
Hello, I'm Oscar.
I'm from a small island called Ekerö near Stockholm.
I came here to study Korean.
But I love it here so much that I'm staying here while school's on break, too.
No one understood, right?
I got "Hej."
It says that when you go to Ikea.
(It's true!)
Hello, I'm Oscar from Sweden.
I'm from a small island called Ekerö near Stockholm.
It's a quiet and beautiful island surrounded in nature.
The island is famously known for being where Vikings lived.
I came to Korea to study.
But I loved its culture and food so much that I decided not to
go home for school vacation.
Your pronunciation is so good, and you can speak fast!
How long have you studied Korean?
I studied Korean for 2 years at a college in Stockholm.
What do you like the most about the Korean culture?
What made you start learning Korean?
I love that people meet and go out to eat together as a group.
And they'd drink together, I really liked that.
I love Korean music.
Girl groups?
I did like K-Pop girl groups in the beginning.
I love hip hop these days.
Who's your favorite artist?
These days... Zion T.
(Oscar loves hip hop and eating out together)
Let's bring in the Korean representative for today as we look forward to
our discussion today with these two.
Our guest today is a writer who authors knowledgeable and useful books.
He's a famous best-selling author, and he's been on TV lately
and had conversations filled with knowledge.
Author Kim Young-ha!
(One of the most famous novelist in Korea)
(He's also been popular on TV, podcast, and gave lectures)
(A natural-born story teller that speaks to the generation)
Please introduce yourself.
I write novels.
My name is Kim Young-ha, it's nice to meet you.
(Passionate welcome)
You just came out with a book for the first time in 7 years?
I'm a fan!
I'm reading one of his books now.
(He's also a fan)
I read "Black Flower."
It's about Korean who went to Mexico before Korea became colonized by Japan.
And it talks about the hard lives of those people as they moved around Mexico.
- You read this book? - Yes, I have.
I wrote the novel in 2003.
It's about a piece of Korean history that's not well-known.
About 1,000 Koreans migrate to Mexico in 1905 on a ship.
But they had been lied to, they were told that it'll be a warm place,
they'll be eating lots of food and they'll make lots of money, too.
So these 1,033 people left to Mexico on a 5-year contract.
But by the time they were supposed to return to Korea,
Korea was no longer there.
Korea had become Japan's colony by then.
So things like their passports became meaningless.
They were not able to return.
If you go to Yucatan Peninsula today, you can still find their descendants.
There's a community of the Korean descendants.
They all speak Spanish fluently.
That book's been translated into German, English, and French.
But it's not published in Mexico.
It should now.
His others books also have been translated into dozens of other languages.
And they're selling really well.
Could you tell us your experience of living overseas? Like New York?
I lived in New York for about 3 years.
I also lived in Italy for about 3 months.
I lived in Vancouver for about a year, too.
I spent the longest time in New York, but
I had a hard time with food there.
With food?
There are so many good restaurants there.
Every American I met said that there are so many good restaurants,
with a variety of food from all over the world.
It does have food from all over the world, but every dish is not made so well.
(Standard has been lowered)
(Mark's got nothing to say)
Italian food I had in Italy was great, but not in New York.
Korean food, too, it's less than what I expected in New York.
I can understand that a Korean from Korea wouldn't enjoy Korean food
in New York.
Don't you feel the same for Italian food?
Oh, I've never been to New York.
It's good there!
He's lived in Italy too.
So he can compare the taste.
New York's got other foods that are delicious.
I had Japanese food there, and I've been to Japan often and eaten there.
But in New York, it's too expensive to eat Japanese food that's high quality.
- It is expensive there. - Yes, it is.
You have to pay tip on top of that.
(Everyone makes fun of him)
You look hurt.
I'm actually shocked.
There are so many restaurants with Michelin Stars!
Tokyo's got the most number of Michelin Star restaurants.
(Sorry)
Of course, it's not like I've been to every restaurant in New York.
I'm sure you've been to enough in 3 years.
But New York is a great city for a writer to live in.
Many different events happen everyday.
My favorite moments in New York as a writer were
when I'd go see plays.
I can't understand about 2/3 of the lines.
That's when I start to imagine how the story should go.
So that part of my brain that creates stories becomes very active.
I thought of many good stories that way.
I guess if your English got better, your imagination skill would decrease.
Yes, that's true. So my English cannot get better.
That's why I'm so imaginative.
(The New Yorker acknowledges)
But if you can't understand any, then it's not good either.
With such a famous writer here, I look forward to a great conversation today.
It's the 163rd Non-Summit Meeting today.
Kim Young-ha, could you tell us our topic for today?
I'd go around many places in the world to write and to research.
And I thought of a topic of discussion.
I'd often go to bookstores overseas though I can't even read them.
Am I abnormal for being this way?
The books you can't read?
Right.
So if you went to Sweden, you'd visit a bookstore there? Though you don't speak it?
- Same if you went to China. - But you can't understand Chinese.
No, I can't. Yet I bought a haiku book in Japan before.
I'd just think, "This is haiku," though I can't read it.
Maybe you like interior design?
(Books for decoration)
That might be true.
What's the psychology behind it?
For example, I'd go to a bookstore in Poland though I can't read its books.
But if you look closely, you can find many writers.
Like Franz Kafka.
He's found in a Polish bookstore, an American bookstore,
in many bookstores from around the world.
When I recognize authors, it makes me feel peaceful.
Like, though I don't know much about the people who live here,
they are reading the books from the same writers that I like.
That makes me feel good.
I'd buy books too.
Literature is art, but it's not something that's easily enjoyed or felt.
Aren't paintings a little more...
So why would you buy books?
Aren't things like paintings easier to actually enjoy?
You're right.
Sometimes I'd just buy merchandises from the bookstores instead.
Bookstores have cute notes and things, special to their countries.
They got pencils, stationery...
I'd buy those things too.
You can usually find nice bookstores in central cities of different countries.
And when I go and sit in a bookstore, it feels familiar to me.
They say autumn is a season for reading books.
We'll take up the topic today, "I'd go to bookstores overseas that are
filled with books I can't read. Am I abnormal?"
We'll be talking about books today.
What famous books are there from your countries?
What are some of your bestsellers and steady-sellers?
One of the bestsellers in Italy was written in the 14th century.
Dante's Divine Comedy has been a steady-seller for a long time.
Tens of millions of copies were sold, and people still buy the book.
More recently, books like The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
have been popular.
50 million copies have been sold.
So many people bought that book, and it's a required reading in Italian schools.
Anne of Green Gables is a famous book in Canada.
You've all heard of it, right?
- Anne of Green Gables? - Isn't that Canadian?
I don't think it is.
It is!
Many Canadians often get upset when people don't recognize what's from Canada.
So Ann is Canadian?
It's true! It's from Canada.
The small house the author used to live in is now a museum in Canada.
The author's Canadian.
I thought it was from northern Europe.
Oh, it's Pippi Longstocking.
Yes, that's a Swedish steady-seller.
They're confusing, aren't they?
(It's true!)
No, they're completely different!
Ann's got her hair like that too?
The actual title is Pippi Longstocking, right?
It goes by something like, "Pippi the Tomboy" in Korea.
She likes to ride horses and ditch school.
There's a recent bestseller in Sweden, and it's famous in Korea too,
The Hundred Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared.
Another one is A Man Called Ove.
Both of those books were made into movies, and you can watch them
in Korea, too.
Haruki Murakami and Keigo Higashino are famous writers of Japan.
They're the two pillars of Japanese literature.
For Haruki Murakami, he wrote 1Q84, and Killing Commendatore
For Keigo Higashino, he's known as the king of mysteries.
He wrote The Devotion of Suspect X and Miracles of the Namiya General Store.
What's not very known about them is that they were of different professions before.
Haruki Murakami used to run a jazz cafe.
Keigo Higashino used to be an engineer.
Then he wrote a book, and it became a bestseller.
Very proud.
The book I read the fastest in my life was Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami.
Because it was good?
It's really thick.
It's erotic.
You're right!
The book is this thick.
And I read it in 3 days!
(A new-found joy of reading)
You remember the page number of certain scenes?
There must be many from Britain.
Yes, there are so many from Britain.
(James has been waiting for his turn)
We have Shakespeare,
J. R. R. Tolkien, who wrote The Lord of the Rings,
C. S. Lewis,
and the incredibly famous J. K. Rowling.
J. K. Rowling of Harry Potter!
J. K. Rowling is actually a very amazing person.
She used to live off welfare from the government.
But she worked very hard and became very rich.
She also wrote the script for "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."
The most famous steady-seller is, of course, Shakespeare.
I thought you were acting in a play just now.
(France is also famous for its books)
The Little Prince by Saint-Exupéry is very famous in France.
Globally, too.
12 million copies were sold just in France.
The Stranger by Albert Camus is also famous.
It sold 7 million copies just in France.
But it's also because they're required books in school.
They might still be the bestsellers because the teachers make the students
buy them.
The steady-seller in Germany that's been popular over a century is
The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
(Huge influence in world history)
And every German family has the German Constitution at home.
The number-one bestseller from Amazon in Germany is the German Civil Laws.
Number two is the German Commerce Laws.
Number four is Main Tax Codes.
Number seven is the Labor Laws.
They're all books of laws?
The civil law book is number one?
There's a reason for it.
We consider people "adults" when they graduate from school.
So they give books of laws as graduation gifts.
It's good, because you can just look them up yourself if there's
any legal issues.
No need for lawyers then.
Do they think it's fun to read them?
No, they're not fun to read at all.
It's a cure for insomnia.
I think that's really good.
People often get mistreated while working part time in Korea.
Many people don't know the minimum wage or employees' rights.
It's because we don't prepare our children at all for things like that.
Not everyone can hire a lawyer either.
The employer must get so scared if a part-time employee comes
with a labor law book.
They should bring the book and put it in the store before start working.
"I'm sorry!"
I had a legal question while I was working part-time before.
I asked my parents about the legal question I had.
They'd just tell me, "You have the law books, look it up yourself."
"Look at Article 34 Clause 2."
(A daily life in Germany)
The Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez is famous in Mexico.
He wrote One Hundred Years of Solitude.
It's a recommended book for every kid in Mexico.
Mexicans love that book so much that
they have a commemorative ceremony for it.
They'd do concerts and things.
It's Mexico's favorite book.
How do you pick books to read for yourself?
It's a little bit different between choosing books I'd like to read versus
books I have to read for writing.
But I do have a special method I used.
When I write a book, I need to know the character's psyche very well.
So I buy books that I think the character would have read in real life.
"If I were that character, I would've read books like these."
For example, I'd think about what kind of books a serial killer would read.
Then I'd go and get those books.
Probably something by Friedrich Nietzsche.
Perhaps some Buddhist scriptures.
Just feels like that.
But for books for the sake of reading them, I'm the same as you.
Following writers I like,
following the books those writers recommend,
also reading the books written by writers who are friends with that writer.
Like pulling out sweet potatoes, linked to one another.
Yes, each book is related to another some way.
So I'd just follow that path and read books.
You said, "The dead writers are safer than the living ones"?
What did you mean by that?
Writers who are alive still have a chance of writing bad books.
There's no guarantee that a living writer's next book is also going to be a good one.
So should we read yours?
I understand it's not really to my advantage.
But the dead writers' books are safe to choose.
People have already evaluated their works.
And their other books can't be bad.
Their works have already been verified.
Have you ever bought your own books before?
Do writers do that?
The publisher sends you many copies of your book once it's published.
So no need to buy them.
But the bookstores would give out these goods to promote the book.
Like a cute glass cup or like a miniature book.
And I really liked a glass cup they were giving out, so I bought my own book
to get the cup.
But there's a side-effect to that cup.
The glass cup has words from my book written on it.
So while I'm drinking beer out of that cup, I'd sober up.
I'd take a gulp and think, "I shouldn't have wrote it like that..."
"I should fix it..."
I'm sure you're very proud of books from your own country.
We found a survey based on global bestsellers.
We prepared a "Book-Board Chart" to see where your own country ranks.
An American translation company did a research to celebrate "World Book Day."
They announced the 50-most translated books in the world.
Who among you thinks your country is found in this ranking?
Any books of your guess?
From Korea?
I don't think any Korean book will be in that list.
But I think Don Quixote is in it.
Number ten!
Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren.
Still very loved in Sweden?
Yes, it's still very famous.
There was a 70th anniversary event of the book recently.
You could talk to characters from the book.
You'd hear the story and music to it.
I heard many people attended the event.
The author can be found on Swedish currency.
Printed on Swedish currency?
Like King Sejong in Korea.
There are countries who feature writers on their currencies.
Japan does that, right?
Natsume Sōseki is on a Japanese currency.
What's his name?
Sōseki. [Sounds like "a baby cow" in Korean]
That sounds delicious!
What's the value of that currency?
What's equivalent to a 10-dollar bill.
Saint-Exupéry used to be on a French currency before.
But all that went away when Europe changed its currency to the euro.
It tells us how much the citizens of a country love literature.
Number nine goes to
the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho in Brazil.
It sold a lot.
Number eight is the Adventures of Tintin by Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi.
Number 7 and 6 are both French.
Number 7 is the Adventures of Asterix by René Goscinny.
Number 6 is 20'000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne.
The Adventures of Asterix is a comic book series in France.
Anyone who's a child or an adult can read it.
20'000 Leagues Under the Sea is a classic novel.
It's about a submarine, right?
Right.
A submarine called Nautilus goes under the Antarctic waters.
I read it when I was in the middle school.
Number five is Fairy Tales by Andersen from Denmark.
Alice in Wonderland is at number four, written by Lewis Carroll from Britain.
Number three is also British.
The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan.
John Bunyan is from Bedford, the town that I'm also from.
He wrote the book in a prison cell in Bedford, actually.
That's how my hometown got a little famous.
It's a religious book, providing guidance for Christians.
It talks about how to go to heaven.
Oh, it explains the way to heaven?
What's the original title?
(The most translated Christian literature)
Shall we look at number two?
It's the Adventures of Pinocchio by the Italian author, Carlo Collodi.
Everyone in the world knows this book.
I heard in Korea, people think that the story is about how we must not lie.
But there are many other lessons to learn from the book, too.
It was written during the 19th century when Italy was not living so well.
The author write it as a book of morality for the children.
So the book talks about how there can be difficulties and temptations in life,
but live diligently and good things happen.
Not lying is part of the lesson.
Finally, number one!
It's the Little Prince by Saint-Exupéry from France.
3 French books in top 10!
We have 3 on the ranking because we're good writers.
I'm just kidding, but there is a reason.
The Little Prince is a recommended children's book from all over the world.
But it's not really a book for the children.
Not at all.
It actually makes fun of the world we live in, and criticizes it.
In the beginning, a snake swallows an elephant in the Little Prince.
It talks about how that looks like a hat.
I think it's scary for kids.
But they do tell a lot of fearful stories to kids in France.
I heard that an American went to a French bookstore,
to pick out a children's book,
and he was so shocked.
He said there were so many scary stories.
Hansel and Gretel is scary, too.
Little Red Riding Hood too.
The wolf eats the grandma.
I thought Hansel and Gretel was so scary.
Old Korean folktales are very gruesome too, in their original versions.
In Kongji and Patzzi,
Patzzi's mom's made into into a seasoning sauce.
Into a sauce?
In the original version?
Yes, she's salted and put into a jar.
Same for many other countries, too.
Was it not a children's story originally?
It was a story also for the adults originally.
But the basic intent behind any children's story is to scare the kids.
"The world is a scary place, so you better be careful."
Don Quixote came in at number 25.
Number 11 is Harry Potter.
1984 is number 13.
Sherlock Holmes is number 16, the British novel.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is number 14, from the United States.
The Da Vinci Code is number 30, the Great Gatsby is number 32.
Heidi by Johanna Spyri from Swiss is number 20.
I think Heidi was made popular in other countries first, then in Swiss.
It was made into a famous cartoon series in Japan.
I personally don't think it's that interesting of a story.
It's just about this girl named Heidi who lives a happy life in the mountains.
It's fun to read!
(I guess...)
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami is number 23 for Japan.
Perfume by Patrick Süskind from Germany is number 26.
A Chinese book was ranked at number 37, Wolf Totem by Jiang Rong.
Anne of Green Gables from Canada is number 43.
It's Canadian!
Oh, I had just forgotten again.
Unfortunately, Christian, Mexico did not place within top 50.
I couldn't say a single word today.
I think it's because Mexicans don't have much time to read books.
No time to read?
I was shocked when I came to Korea.
There are so many people in bookstores.
But it's hard to fine maybe 10 people in a Mexican bookstore.
They just don't read?
They must all be in museums.
Yes, there are many museums there.
No Korea book here?
Kim Young-ha's book is...
There's no way it'll be on the list.
Black Flower is at... One thousand...
Why do you think there's no Korean book found in this list?
To start off, it's only been a few decades since Koreans wrote pieces of literature
in Korean.
Koreans had to write in Japanese during the colonial period.
Before that, it was mostly with the Chinese writing system.
That's how they wrote novels.
So the literature history was cut off.
Korea also went through a difficult time during the Korean War and after.
Koreans only really started to write in Korean after the 60s.
Korea's got a short history in literature in Korean.
And people from other countries read books from a particular country
when that country is appealing to them.
Alex said earlier that he's not sure why Heidi is so popular.
It's because people have a good image of Swiss, that's why they read that story.
People like to see the Alps, and it's a story about a girl in Alps.
So they want to read it.
Korea is still not very known to the world.
That's why people from the rest of the world don't feel like they should read
our books.
I'm sure different countries prefer different genres of books.
Let's hear what each country likes.
Japanese people love to read self-improvement books.
Every Japanese bookstore has a dedicated section for those books.
Many people stand in that section, reading books.
Japanese people lack in self-confidence, so they fill their void with those books.
That's a part of it.
We also care a lot about how others look at us, so we study a lot
about psychology.
That's why Courage to be Disliked was so popular.
It's specifically about minding how others view oneself.
So people would read the book and they agree, and want to change.
That's why it became so popular.
Then they'd close it up and look around to see if anyone's watching.
And if that doesn't work, go on to the sequel.
Self-improvement books aren't popular in Italy.
But they read many "Romanzi Rosa" books.
"Pink novels."
They're romantic novels.
They're not written with high literature quality,
but love stories are very popular.
Just romantic novels? Or a little erotic?
Some have erotic parts, but some don't. They vary.
A popular book these days is written by the pope.
He wrote 7 books, and they all became bestsellers.
In Mexico, they watch the movie first and if they like it, they read the book.
So only the books that were made into movies?
Movie first, then read next.
That might be better, because most people are disappointed when they read the book
first then watch the movie.
You can first imagine the scenes when you read the book first.
That's why the most-selling books in Mexico are Harry Potter, the Twilight,
the Lord of the Rings.
The Game of Thrones?
That's a book?
Yes, it's a book!
Because the story of the Game of Thrones is so expansive,
and there are so many families in the story,
the author said that he gets confused while writing it, too.
The fan club president is Swedish, actually.
So the writer would call the fan club president in Sweden.
"Which one was this character, from this family?"
Then the fan club president would explain everything about the character.
It's because some stories are 20 years old.
And they'd appear again in more recent stories.
So the author actually contacts the fan club president for help.
Maybe it's like that for One Piece.
The author said that he was going to write just a little bit originally.
But there are so many fans now that he's forced to write more.
Now the story sorta lost its way.
That's bound to happen after writing it for 20 years.
When a strong enemy is killed, someone stronger has to come after.
It's hard to tell where the limit should be.
Chinese people famously love poetry.
People think poetry is an old and traditional culture of China,
but it's still very popular today.
There is a TV program from CCTV about poetry.
It was called, "the Chinese Poems Conference."
An ordinary person comes on stage and looks at an image and name
what poem comes to mind.
(Guess the correct poem based on image)
(And recite poems)
The grand-prize winner becomes an instant celebrity.
High viewing rate?
Yes, very high.
You write poems online too, right? Simlin?
He does?
He'd write poems on his social media pages.
Yes, I saw those postings.
But he always posts them with the pictures of himself.
(The most important thing in life is that the sea is always here
by my side to encourage me during times of hardship)
(Simlin uploads poems online daily)
Poetry is popular in Korea too, right?
Yes, people buy poem books quite a bit.
There was a time that they'd sell millions of copies.
Especially Do Jong-hwan, the poet and the current Minister of Culture in Korea,
had sold over a million copies of his poem book.
"My Mellow Rose," famously.
Poem books are becoming popular again because of social media.
It's too hard to quote a novel.
People need short, strong, and impactful poem verses.
They'd share them to their friends and upload them.
That's how good poems have been spreading more lately.
They have poems written in subway stations in Korea.
I really like that.
I saw one in the elevator here.
That's not a poem, it's a quote.
(Helpful quotes in life)
What do the British like to read?
The British really love fantasy novels.
Even from a thousand years ago, the stories of King Arthur and Merlin
have been famous.
Britain also has a very old, ancient image of itself.
When you seem some American films, they speak with strong British accent.
(That's true)
The Swiss do not like fantasy stories.
I think they think that they're already living in a fantasy-like location.
(Showing off, Alps!)
The world that appears in the Lord of the Rings is called "Middle-earth."
You can say it's Swiss, actually.
There's a theory that the author would visit Swiss often, and used its landscape
for his story.
As a French person, I feel like the town in the Lord of the Rings is French.
Don't the British feel like the town in the Hobbit is a country town
in Britain, no?
I think it's because the movie was shot in New Zealand.
The movie was shot in New Zealand, but some parts were shot in
the Southern Alps.
The Swiss, who are logical, prefer non-fiction books.
The French novel critiques usually look down upon sci-fi or fantasy novels.
Why do the French look down upon so many things?
(Pretends not to have heard him)
But the French people like mystery novels.
The Swedish also like detective novels.
There's a literary genre called "the Nordic Noir," specifically for
the Swedish detective or mystery novels.
They're crime fiction novels written in the perspective of the police.
"Millennium Series" is the most popular Nordic Noir series.
It seems like mundane and boring countries without many events like Canada or Sweden
look for more provocative stories.
The Canadians also love mystery novels.
- Canada is boring, right? - Yes.
We're not bored at all here.
Koreans love nature stuff, like "Hyori's Bed and Breakfast,"
"Three Meals a Day."
Is that a book? Hyori's Bed and Breakfast?
They show a lot of relaxing shows in the nature with calm music
in the background.
Big events happen in Korea, the president got impeached!
Real stories that feel more made-up than the novels!
But if you go to Canada or Sweden, the crime rate itself is very low.
There aren't many murders that take place.
I think that's why the scariest thing for them to imagine is a murder.
They just enjoy imagining these things.
I have a question.
Your new book is a bit dark.
How does it feel to write a story like that? Isn't it depressing?
I was curious what it feels like to write stories like that.
Novels are supposed to be a bit dark.
And yes, the writers themselves also get a little depressed while writing.
So I try to do bright and fun activities while I'm not writing.
I cook simple dishes at times.
The reason I do that, and how I describe what writing novel is like, is like
playing rock-paper-scissors, then letting you know the result in 2 years.
I wrote stuff today, but I can't tell if that's good or not.
It's frustrating because I don't know how the public would receive it or
how the critiques would receive it.
But when you cook, you can eat it right after.
You eat it, and it makes you feel good instantly.
I also have a question.
I'm sure many people call you during the day these days while you write.
I heard many Italian writers write late night so no one calls them.
The problem, as you mentioned, is that everyone's connected these days through
the Internet, especially through social media.
But you have to dive in really deeply when you write.
You might be writing a dark story about a serial killer,
or often you have to write about dark parts of people.
But let's say I had to search for something online,
I'd totally get lost.
- Start doing other things? - Celebrities' photos?
What kind of photos?
He might be into fashion.
Sometimes I'd get coupons via email that expire the day after.
That's a huge distraction!
So I'd go to a shopping site and spend time there.
That's when your friends ask you
to come out.
And I forget what I was supposed to do.
Every writer's important struggle...
Is how to...
Go off grid.
There are a lot of methods that we share.
There's even an app for that.
It blocks your phone
for a designated time.
No one will be able to call you.
It only allows your phone to be connected
to internet for 4 hours a day.
Why don't you use the airplane mode?
But you can undo that.
(It forces your phone to go offline.)
(I see...)
Popular genres in books constantly change.
What's popular in your country?
Books called light novels
are popular in Japan.
We call it ranobe.
It means books good for light readings.
They're novels with drawings
so a lot of young people can read them.
They're popular amongst animation fans too.
There are a lot of animations
based on those novels as well.
And some animations
become light novels too.
For example, Your Name...
Has two novels.
One is an ordinary novel
and the other one is a light novel.
It's very popular.
In America, you can categorize books
into two categories,
fictions and non-fictions.
Non-fiction books are growing faster
than fictions these days.
And the fastest growing category
for non-fictions is
coloring books for adults.
It's popular in Korea too.
I have that in my house!
I was wondering what it was...
On the first page...
It says, this coloring book
will reduce your stress.
Coloring books were meant to be for kids
to learn about colors.
But these days,
it's used to help the adults
cope with their stress.
Some people even make a club
and color together in places like cafes.
I do it too!
Really?
What does it do?
Like I said before,
writing novels is in a very murky world
because you constantly have to dig in
to people's psychology.
But when I'm coloring,
I don't think about anything.
Do you draw skulls?
I might.
It really does help me to relieve stress.
In Paris, vending machines for short novels
were installed in train stations.
There are 3 buttons.
1 minute, 3 minutes and 5 minutes.
You can print something you can read
for 1,3 or 5 minutes
while you wait for your train.
It just comes out like this?
Yes, and it's random.
Wow.
You can read it while you're
waiting for your train.
It's a novel, not a newspaper?
It could be a novel, a poem or a play.
That sounds fun.
Do you guys know who Francisco Coppola is?
The director of Godfather.
He loved this idea
so he installed asked
the machine's company if they can
install it in a cafe in San Francisco.
Is that real paper?
Yes!
Wouldn't a lot of trees die because of it?
Maybe a little?
He's a tree killer!
Audio books are popular in Sweden.
People download books to their cell phones
and listen to them during commute
or when they're driving.
I like having actual writers
do their own audio books.
He has a great voice too!
A lot of people did tell me
to make audio books.
But Korea...
It's market is almost nonexistent.
That's right.
Most people finish audio books
when they have to drive for a long time
in places like America.
But in Korea, when you're driving,
sometimes you have to swear...
Our roads are very chaotic.
You can't listen to audio books here.
But I...
Read books on my podcast.
(Young-ha's podcast: Time to Read a Book.)
Most my audiences are people
who did things like LASIK surgery.
Because they can't see for a while.
That's what I did too!
I listen to audio books for the whole day
when I got LASIK surgery.
Some people thank me by emails
saying that I helped them a lot
while they recovered.
Some people use it to fall asleep.
Apparently, my voice can make people sleep.
I tried an audio book once too.
But I kept getting tired!
(Started reading a book very calmly.)
(Getting a bit tired...)
(He has to hold his head up now.)
(Then he lies down.)
I ended up falling asleep...
I don't do it often because I'm lazy.
I do it once every 2 or 3 months.
Increase in using audio books
or electronic books
could be seen as a trend.
But what will happen to paper books?
Sim-rin's worried about the trees too.
In this digital era,
will paper books disappear?
Or do you think they won't disappear?
Who thinks it'll disappear?
(Disappear: 5 vs. Won't disappear: 7.)
I know this for a fact.
(James is very happy for some reason.)
Things we couldn't imagine
just 30 years ago happened.
Only 30 years ago.
We made a thing called computers.
If we type something in,
we can send a message instantly!
No one could've imagined it
back then.
Who sends letters these days?
(That's true.)
I think paper books will disappear
and it'll happen first in Korea
because Korea has great internet service.
I'm very sad to say this but I think
it will disappear too.
I love the smell of books.
People who read a lot of books
now uses electronic books because...
It's easier to use
and its quality has been greatly improved.
But I think e-books still lack something.
I agree!
I hate it!
E-books won't satiate people
who want to read.
Young people will change that paradigm.
I know a lot of old people
who use e-books too.
The problem is...
An e-book doesn't make me feel
like I own a book.
For example...
Imagine if you won something.
But your trophy was sent to you
by an e-mail.
Exactly!
I want a trophy that I can hold on to!
I want to see it!
I want to smell it!
But it's not there!
You can own it as a background
for your computer.
That's not the same.
(Debate heats up again.)
Just click like on Facebook
if you want to feel like you own it.
Everything people said so far
is true because technology
isn't there yet.
Few hundreds of years later,
with advanced technologies,
everything people complained about e-books
such as the feel of a paper,
will be solved by technologies.
But wait...
CDs are still really popular in Japan.
They're popular in Germany too.
Japan's weird.
It's still a very analogue country.
Germany has advanced technology.
But CDs are still popular too.
There will always be some people
who prefer the old ways.
(Everyone has something to say.)
Even with new inventions,
I don't think new inventions will
replace paper books.
We'll just have more options
to choose from.
That's how it is for music these days.
We use our phones to listen to music.
but we can use CDs when we're at home,
or we can even still us LPs.
So it'll depend on
what the consumers want.
E-books are already being sold.
But if you look at its market,
total sales of paper books
only dropped a little at first
then it's increasing again.
More people are buying paper books
and less people are buying e-books.
Just like what Ogi said,
with technology innovations,
we'll be able to get rid of papers.
There's an app that helps you read a book.
It can read up to 1,000 words per minute.
We have VRs these days too.
You'll feel like you're in Maldives
from a hammock in your living room.
You'll feel like you're reading a book
in a foreign country.
It'll make reading a book better.
That sounds fun.
Young-ha, what do you think?
You know how we talked about
Umberto Eco?
He said books are a perfect invention.
Because just like shavers and tires,
you can't make it any better.
Paper books are perfect as is
because it doesn't need electricity,
you don't need to charge it,
more importantly,
all you need to read it is some lights.
And people who live few hundred years later
can still read it.
It's just perfect as is.
But e-books are a new invention.
The reading part remains the same.
But they won't replace books?
You can't read a lot of e-books
that you bought 10 years ago.
You can read them with a new device.
But someone will always be able to read it
even after a hundred years.
That's a huge advantage.
Then...
Like in a movie, The Day After Tomorrow,
once the ice age hits again,
or if the Earth gets cold,
we can even use it as a kindle.
You can't make fire with e-books!
Are you gonna be okay?
If I'm about to die...
If I'm freezing...
Do you like books that much?
The Giving Tree.
Well, that is an advantage.
The most important function is
that it can be displayed.
Types of books owned by a person
can show what kind of a person
he or she is.
You can get an autograph
if you meet the author.
Books make a good gift too.
People take selfies together
over autographs.
I guess so...
Aurelien is amazing.
He can nitpick on anything!
That's impressive.
(He's the king of nitpicking!)
Amazon opened an offline bookstore
in New York recently.
Even though Amazon is the king
of online retailer for books,
it still offers a chance
for people to come in
to interact with books physically.
When music industry changed very rapidly,
books are lasting quiet long.
I thought e-books will take over
in a few years when it came out.
But paper books are becoming more popular.
A library is a very important place
to interact with books.
Please introduce a famous library
in your country.
James?
It's already funny!
(He's a funny man.)
The most famous library in Britain
is The British Library.
It's not that pretty to look at.
But there are so many things
to look at inside.
Magna Carta for example...
Da Vinci's notebook...
You can even see original lyrics
of the song, Help, by The Beatles.
It's like a library!
Yup!
That's where Karl Marx wrote
Capital: Critique of Political Economy.
(Karl Marx's library card.)
We have the Vatican Library.
It's a library in the Vatican City.
It's one of the most beautiful
libraries in the world.
Libraries in Venice and Florence
are also famous.
Nazionale Maciana is in Venice.
Medicea Laurenziana in Florence.
There are over 10,000 manuscripts
and important ancient documents.
There's a library called
Jose Vasconcelos Library in Mexico.
It opened in 2006.
It won a lot of awards for having
books dangle in the air.
How can you pick out books?
Who can reach them?
Maybe the bookshelves come down.
They're are couches to the side
where you can read books.
There's an area called Saga-ken
next to Fukuoka.
A DVD rental company called Tsutaya
built a library there.
It's become super popular.
What's special about it
is inside the library.
There's a Starbucks,
and a bookstore...
You can spend the whole day in there.
Lifestyle bookstores owned by
companies like Tsutaya...
Even sell that town's special products
by cooking books
or other ingredients like a soy sauce.
You can buy backpacks by
travel books.
They don't just sell books.
You might need a backpack
or a compass.
Those kind of bookstores are fun.
There's a library in St. Gallen
in Switzerland.
That's so beautiful.
It's UNESCO's World Heritage Site.
You should visit.
New Yorkers are proud of
the New York Public Library.
It's one of the 5 biggest libraries
in the world.
And even though he talked down
on New York's food...
That bothered you that much?
But our library is really pretty.
It's in a lot of movies too.
It was in Sex and the City and Spiderman.
I went there once.
It's on the 5th Avenue.
What I don't like about libraries in Korea
is that it's too bright.
A library doesn't need to be bright.
Libraries in New York or Europe
have lights on your eye level.
It's easier to focus.
I like that ambiance.
But one bad thing about that...
You get tired.
I felt calm...
And fell asleep in New York Public Library.
And the security came and said
sleeping isn't allowed.
I always slept in libraries in Korea.
I used to go there just to sleep.
I asked if sleeping is against the rules.
Apparently, it's in New York's
city ordinance.
Sleeping isn't allowed in libraries.
When I looked into it,
it was actually true.
It's because that library is so popular,
a lot of people are waiting
for a spot to open.
It's always full.
It was a culture shock to me.
I want to introduce a library
in Stuttgart.
It has a very modern design.
At night...
That library is bright.
You won't be tired in here.
It was built by a Korean architect.
(Designed by Lee Eun-young.)
Is that why it's bright?
He believes libraries should be bright.
That may be surprising to Europeans.
Ii says library in Korean.
It's true!
There's a beautiful bookstore in China.
It's called...
It has different interiors
for different types of books.
It was so beautiful,
when the 2nd store opened,
23,000 people visited
on its opening day.
23,000 people?
In one day.
It's so pretty,
people go inside to take pictures
even without wanting to buy books.
Did you guys watch Before Sunset
or Midnight in Paris?
Yes.
There's a bookstore called
Shakespeare and Company
in those two movies.
It's famous.
The owner is American.
He has an interesting way of operating it.
Travelers can actually stay there
under one condition.
You have to help out at the store
and read a book every day.
If you're an aspiring writer,
you don't have to work.
But you have to write every day.
A thing called a book stay is popular
these days.
There are a few places in Korea too.
It's staying in a room full of books
for vacations
without things like cell phones.
Maybe that bookstore was the inspiration.
Can I talk about my hometown?
My hometown, Lille, has a special
bookstore.
It has no books in French.
It only has books in English,
Japanese, Spanish...
(Only sells foreign books.)
The Little Prince is sold in...
Translated versions.
The French people is known for being
most open to other countries' work
in European countries.
They read the most books by Asian authors
than any other countries.
Then Germany.
Germany reads a lot of foreign books too.
Vietnamese books are really popular
in France because
it used to be their colony.
They read a lot of Vietnamese books.
Each counties have their own awards
for writers
or literature
that are popular around the world.
What do we have in Korea?
Dongin award, Lee Sang award.
Hwang Sun-won award
Kim Yoo-Jung award.
There are a lot.
Just like in other countries,
awards are named after
famous authors.
Did you receive a lot of awards too?
Yes...
I was very fortunate
to receive a lot of awards.
Which one was your favorite?
Dongin award.
I got it for Black Flower,
the one I wrote in Mexico.
For my congratulatory speech
for the award,
I asked the ambassador of Mexico.
He was very happy to do it.
It was a very memorable moment.
I felt proud.
What you did was amazing.
(Fan boy.)
What?
What are the famous awards
in your country?
France has...
The Prix Goncourt.
It's our most famous award.
It was created over a hundred years ago.
But the prize money hasn't changed.
It's still 10 euros.
(Very meager money for it's stature.)
That's why people who win it
donate their winnings.
(To look awesome.)
When you receive that award...
Your book will fly off the shelves.
Becoming a best seller
is its compensation.
It's the most coveted award
for authors who write in French.
The most famous award in Britain
is The Man Booker Prize.
I think every Koreans know this award
because the author, Han Kang won it...
The Venetian?
The Vegetarian!
That's a good idea for a book...
Pardon me.
Anyways...
(Made everyone laugh with his mistake.)
She won the award with The Vegetarian.
It was...
Only awarded to the Commonwealth countries.
But...
They made another award.
There's The Man Booker Prize
and The Man Booker International Prize.
They made one more award.
The international prize is for
literature translated into English.
The most famous award in Japan is...
Akutagawa award and Naoki award.
These are named after
famous writers, Akutagawa and Naoki.
They have the longest history in Japan.
But they're different.
Akutagawa award is for
rookie authors or unknown authors.
Naoki award is for authors
with good careers.
They're both really prestigious in Japan
so books that won
sell a lot.
(Becomes a best seller in Korea too.)
Sweden has, as you guys all know...
The Nobel Prize.
It's the most prestigious award
in the world.
I'm sure everyone knows it.
If you could get one award,
would you want The Nobel Prize too?
No.
Most people only know about
The Nobel Prize.
But awards like the Kafka award,
Cervantes award,
Jerusalem Award...
(Murakami Haruki's anti-war speech)
(is from this award.)
(When the eggs hit the rocks,)
(I was always on the eggs' side.)
There are a lot of prestigious awards.
If I were to receive one award...
I would want a Dublin Literary Award.
Authors like Orhan Pamuk or
Michelle Houellebecq...
A lot of important authors have won it.
It's not just me.
A lot of non-English authors
would want the same.
I heard you guys were bragging
about The Nobel Prize.
Time to brag!
The best modern short story writer,
Alice Munro is the only Canadian to win
The Nobel Prize in Literature.
After she won The Nobel Prize,
the sales of her book sold
1261 times more than before in Korea.
That's huge.
She's a great writer.
When she won The Nobel Prize,
not a lot of her work were translated
into Korean.
There were maybe about 2 books.
Mexico has one too.
There's a poet named Octavio Paz.
He's very famous in Mexico
and Central America.
I don't read a lot of books...
But he's good!
He's very good!
Two Japanese people won the award.
Kawabata Yasunari is one.
And Oe Kenzaburo is the other.
The Snow Country by Kawabata Yasunari
was really popular.
It won The Nobel Prize
for beautifully portraying
how the Japanese people lived.
8 Swedish people won
The Nobel Prize in Literature.
The most famous one is...
Selma Lagerlof, the first woman
to win the award.
Her mot famous work is
the Adventures of Nils.
Sweden cheats a little, they have too many.
It's a home court advantage.
(Surprise attack...)
11 Americans won
The Nobel Prize in Literature.
The most talked about winner recently
is Bob Dylan.
There were a lot of controversies.
He won it because of his
poetry-like lyrics,
not because of a book.
Some people question if lyrics
is a part of literature too.
9 British people have won
The Nobel Prize in Literature.
The weirdest winner of the group...
Is Sir Winston Churchill.
Our former prime minister.
He wrote a series of 6 books
about the Second World War.
I think...
Even during the war
when he should've been worrying
about the war...
He was worried about
his book that he'll eventually write.
I think it's kind of fascinating.
I don't know how he focused on both...
I have no idea how he did it.
Even during a war...
All he thought about was The Nobel Prize?
Switzerland won the most Nobel Prize
per capita.
We won two Nobel Prize in Literature.
Carl Spitteler and Hermann Hesse.
Is Hermann Hesse Swiss?
I'm sorry but Hermann Hesse is German.
I knew he'd say that.
He's German.
He was born in Germany.
He lived in Switzerland for 40 years.
We even have his museum.
So do we!
And I have a question.
Guillaume, are you Korean?
He's Canadian...
That was a great argument!
But we don't have a museum for him.
(Alex is taken aback by a surprise attack.)
One of his most famous work is...
Das Glass...
What?
Let me read it since it's in German.
He can't read German!
Anyways...
He wanted to publish it in Germany
but because of his political views,
he couldn't publish it in Germany.
It was published in Switzerland.
But that doesn't change his nationality.
Including Hermann Hesse,
Germany has 10
Nobel Prize in Literature winners.
A lot of Europeans have won it.
If you have 10 winners, give us one.
Do you learn that Hermann Hesse is a Swiss
in Switzerland?
Yup!
What was his nationality
when the book was published?
It was published in Switzerland.
Where did he write it?
Switzerland.
Then I guess he was affected
by Switzerland.
(Born in Germany but immigrated)
(to Switzerland.)
What do you think?
Franz Kafka wrote in German,
not in Czech.
So people talk about if his work
is German literature.
I asked a question why we go to
bookstores in foreign countries
when we can't even understand.
In literature...
Nationalities are meaningless.
Whether Hesse is German or Swiss
isn't that important.
When an author reaches a certain level
and the work is translated
to all over the world,
then the author
belongs to the world of literature.
That was a good line.
Certain countries have more
great authors than the others.
But their works are enjoyed by everyone.
I completely understand what he said.
Literature is in a world of art.
But France has 15.
Nationalities don't matter.
But 15 winners.
Who are they?
Patrick Modiano was the most recent one?
Yes.
They're all great writers.
Why doesn't Korea have any?
We always talk about Ko Eun
winning the award.
It's about time we stop doing that.
Since Korea...
Has developed so quickly...
Our economy is one of the best.
But I think some people thing that
our culture isn't respected enough.
People who want our culture
to be respected
think that one of the easiest way
to get there is to win
The Nobel Prize.
It would be nice if Korean authors can win
like we win gold medals.
They think it'll be nice to win awards
year after year.
But literature isn't a competition.
No author writes to win an award.
Touching the readers' hearts
in your own country is hard enough.
And a lot of people know that...
The Nobel Prize...
Is eurocentric.
Even the judges are more familiar
with European languages.
Languages such as French, German
or even Swedish.
Because they're more used to
those languages...
Since Korea has developed this much,
we need to change our goal.
We need to create more literature
worth reading and not focus on awards.
We talked about this before but...
Translation.
Is very important.
Was there a piece where you thought
it was translated beautifully?
The quality of translation in Korean
is outstanding.
And Korea is the 7th biggest market
or printed books.
Around 7th.
But in countries such as America and the UK
only 3% of their total books sold
are translated.
But in Korea more than 40% of
the books we read
are foreign literature.
When I sometimes meat American authors
or other foreign authors,
not a lot of them have read books
from other countries.
But readers and writers from Korea
read literature from Latin America,
France, Germany...
We read variety of literature.
Which one do you remember the most?
There used to be a lot of
weird translations
but some of them were still successful.
Norwegian Wood by Murakami Haruki.
Some people called it Norwegian Forrest.
But in Korea,
it was called an Era of Loss.
No other countries called it like that.
And...
The funniest one is from 1914,
a very long time ago...
Les Miserable by Victor Hugo
was translated by Hong Myung-Hui.
He's a famous author who wrote,
Lim Kkuk-Jung.
He translated the title to
You're Pathetic.
Since there are 5 syllables in
Les Miserable,
it was, You're Pathetic.
They both mean the same thing.
I thought that was hilarious.
Can you tell us about a book
that touched your heart?
I have a book that I'd like to suggest.
1984 by George Orwell.
It was written in 1984.
It's a book based on a future world
or dystopia.
It was scary and touching.
I wrote my thesis on 1984
for my college exam.
I read it about 10 times back then.
It's one of my favorite books.
That book became a best seller again
after Donald Trump was inaugurated.
Really?
(Huge increase in sales.)
People became more interested in dystopia.
This is a line...
Not a novel.
In Korean...
Anything can happen in life.
But in most cases...
They're not that important.
Is that from a novel?
It's from a book called Platform
by Michelle Houellebecq.
Is there a book you'd like to suggest
for people to read over summer?
(Pay attention!)
It's a book by Truman Capote.
He's the original author
of Breakfast at Tiffany's.
His last work...
Is called In Cold Blood.
It's about 2 murderers
who killed an entire family in Kansas.
He interviewed why they did such a thing
for 6 years.
He even watched the criminals' executions
to write this non-fiction.
This piece made him really famous.
But since it was so dark...
Truman Capote wasn't able to write again.
But it gives us a very important insight
about that dark desire that
some people have.
It's a good book for summer.
It's chilling.
We've talked about,
Kim Young-ha's agenda
for 163rd meeting.
I go to bookstores when I go abroad
even when I don't understand.
Am I abnormal?
We talked about books today.
This is what he said before...
For an emotional work out,
read a book.
Is he like Arnold Schwarzenegger
of emotions?
What do you think is the best
about reading?
It's just like the Non Summit Meeting.
It's about learning about the worlds
you didn't know about before.
And it expands your world
just like meeting strangers do.
Reading expands your horizons as well
to people and the world
you didn't know about.
Just like the Non Summit Meeting.
What did you think about today?
I was a teacher at a language school
in my 20s.
I watched this program a lot
because it makes me feel like
I'm in my 20s again.
It felt like I'm teaching a class again.
Kids from all over the world
look at their teacher with the eye
full of hope about what will happen
in Korea.
This show made me reminisce
about those days.
Coming here and talking to them...
Was a lot of fun.
We had a lot of fun too.
That's it for today's Non Summit Meeting.
Until we're all normal...
To wish you luck in your future work...
Since he has a new book out...
To wish you luck in your future work...
Since he has a new book out...
What song was that?
I've never heard of it before.
Meeting adjourned!
(It was Two People by Sung Si-kyung...)
(Next week.)
(Luc Besson, the creator)
(of The Fifth Element and Leon.)
(He's coming to Non Summit Meeting!)