1.
It is clear from the above discussions that in actual figures, the
number of volumes of translated Korean fiction published in the United
States since 2000 (27 volumes) has been much more considerable than is
often realized, far exceeding the figures for all western countries
other than France, Germany, Russia, and Italy. It would be
interesting to have figures for American publication of literature from
China and Japan.
To this must be added the rather extraordinary number of volumes of Korean poetry (30) published in the US in the same period.
2.
The grants offered to translators by the Korean funding agencies
are far more generous (at least double) than those offered by almost
any western governments, and they are paid directly, in part even
before the translation is completed.
This can be explained by Korea’s deliberate policy of spending
generously in order to make up for its low profile on the international
stage.
However, subsidies offered to publishers to support the actual costs of producing the translations are far too small in realistic terms, even if the figure of $35-40,000 for one book quoted above may be somewhat exaggerated.
$5 - 7,000 per book still seems to be the standard subsidy offered by the KLTI and Daesan.
Certain problems have been stressed by the American writers: