Key Summary
- South Korea’s Culture Ministry said it will award ministerial commendations to seven people at the 10th Bookstore Day ceremony in Seoul.
- The honorees are being recognized for work related to bookstore and publishing distribution growth, local cultural hubs, and policies supporting neighborhood bookstores.
- The event will also include awards for “Bookstore Person of the Year,” “Book of the Year,” and “Author of the Year.”
- Author Eun Hee-kyung was selected as this year’s author of the year.
- The ministry said support for regional bookstores has increased, with the budget rising from 2.6 billion won last year to 7.5 billion won this year, and a 13.8 billion won allocation proposed for next year.
Main Story
South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced that it will present ministerial commendations to seven people during the 10th Bookstore Day ceremony in Seoul on Monday afternoon. The event will be held at the Seoul Museum of History and organized by the Korea Bookstore Association.
The awards are divided into three areas: revitalizing bookstores and publishing distribution, strengthening local cultural hubs, and supporting policies that help regional bookstores. In the first category, the ministry named Kwon Soon-ho, head of Youngdong Mungo in Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi Province, and Lee Jeong-eun, head of the Development Power Bookstore 5 cooperative and former secretary general of the Neighborhood Bookstore Network, as recipients.
In the local cultural hub category, the honorees include Cheonghakseorim in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province; Qua, a science and technology bookstore in Daejeon; and Dali Bookstore in Jeju. The ministry said these bookstores were recognized for their work in connecting with local residents and supporting reading culture.
For the policy-support category, the ministry selected Lee Han-byeol, a local librarian with the library policy division of the library headquarters in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, and Jang Bok-rye, a local librarian at the Central Library in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.
Additional honors announced for the ceremony include the Korea Bookstore Association’s “Bookstore Person of the Year” award, which will go to Jeon Kyung-ja of Imae Mungo in Seongnam and Moon Sun-mi of Kkokkoli Books. National Assembly member Lee Jae-jung, who introduced a revision bill to the Publishing Culture Industry Promotion Act, will receive a plaque of appreciation. Sun Kuk-kyu, head of the Hoemasil branch of Gyeonggiseog, will receive a merit award.
The ceremony will also feature awards for “Book of the Year” and “Author of the Year,” with novelist Eun Hee-kyung named this year’s author.
After the ceremony, organizers will hold a performance-sharing meeting for the 2026 regional lead bookstore cultural activity promotion project. The ministry said it will review results from about 2,900 reading and cultural programs run at 340 bookstores nationwide through newly supported initiatives this year, including “Life Reading x Life Bookstore” and “Cultural Wednesday x Late-Night Bookstore.”
The ministry said it has expanded support for regional bookstores as cultural centers. Funding for regional bookstore support rose from 2.6 billion won last year to 7.5 billion won this year, and the government’s draft budget for next year includes 13.8 billion won, which the ministry said is an 84% increase from this year.
Vice Culture Minister Kim Young-soo said bookstores connect books and people and serve as important spaces for local culture. A Korea Bookstore Association representative said bookstore workers across the country have protected reading culture over the past decade despite difficult conditions and said the association will continue gathering industry voices and building a foundation for practical policy support.
Background
The supplied text says this is the 10th Bookstore Day ceremony and notes that the Korea Bookstore Association is organizing the event. No additional background was provided.
Items Requiring Further Verification
- The exact identity and official spelling of several award recipients and venues, as rendered in the source text, may need confirmation from primary records.
- The budget figures and the stated 84% year-over-year increase should be verified against official government budget documents.
- The source attributes remarks to Vice Culture Minister Kim Young-soo and a Korea Bookstore Association representative; those quotations should be checked against official transcripts if used in publication.
- The description of the 2026 project and the count of 2,900 programs at 340 bookstores should be independently confirmed if cited as definitive results.