| Title | Author’s Name | Language | Water Body Name | Water Body Type | Publication Details | Year of Publication (Original) | Genre | Theme |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Tale of Sim Cheong (Simcheongjeon) | Anonymous (classical) | Korean | Indangsu Strait (mythic) | Strait / sea (sacrificial waters) | Traditional pansori/folk novel; circulated in print editions from the 18th-19th century | Traditional (exact date unknown) | Classical narrative / Pansori novel | Filial piety, self-sacrifice, redemption and rebirth |
| Sun-i Samch’on (Uncle Sun-i) | Hyun Ki-young | Korean | Coastal waters of Jeju Island | Coastal sea | Changbi / Segye-ui Munhak (Korea) | 1978 | Literary fiction / Historical trauma narrative | Buried memory, the Jeju massacre, silence and testimony |
| Song of the Sword (Kal-ui Norae) | Kim Hoon | Korean | Namhae (South Sea) / Korea Strait | Sea (naval battleground, Imjin War) | Munhakdongne (Korea); not officially published in English (translated into German, French, Japanese) | 2001 | Historical war epic | Duty, mortality, personal integrity under the weight of war |
| Whale (Golae) | Cheon Myeong-kwan | Korean | Unnamed coastal sea | Ocean (coastal town) | Munhakdongne (Korea, 2004); English trans. by Chi-Young Kim, Archipelago Books (US) / Europa Editions (UK), 2023 | 2004 | Magical realism / Epic | Ambition, generational lives of women, fate and folly |
| Princess Bari (Baridegi) | Hwang Sok-yong | Korean | Yellow Sea / open ocean (cargo-ship voyage to the UK) | Ocean voyage | Changbi (Korea, 2007); English trans. by Sora Kim-Russell, Periscope / Garnet Publishing, 2015 | 2007 | Literary fiction / Mythic realism | Displacement, refuge, the shaman myth of a journey beyond death |
| Black Flower (Geomeun Kkot) | Kim Young-ha | Korean | Pacific Ocean | Ocean (transpacific voyage) | Munhakdongne (Korea, 2003); English trans. by Charles La Shure, Mariner Books, 2012 | 2003 | Historical fiction | Diaspora, loss of homeland, the erasure of national identity |
| We Do Not Part (Jakbyeolhaji Anneunda) | Han Kang | Korean | Coastal waters of Jeju Island | Coastal sea / snow-bound seascape | Munhakdongne (Korea, 2021); English trans. by e. yaewon & Paige Aniyah Morris, Hogarth, 2025 | 2021 | Literary fiction / Historical trauma narrative | Memory, grief, testimony, the aftermath of state violence |
| Pachinko | Min Jin Lee | English (Korean-American author) | Korea Strait (Busan-Osaka crossing) | Sea passage | Grand Central Publishing (US), 2017; written originally in English, not translated from Korean | 2017 | Historical saga | Diaspora, identity, resilience across generations |
| The Island of Sea Women | Lisa See | English (Chinese-American author) | Coastal waters of Jeju Island | Coastal sea / diving waters | Scribner (US), 2019; written originally in English, not translated from Korean | 2019 | Historical fiction | Female friendship, tradition, the toll of war and colonization |
