Haruki Murakami (file photo)

The rights to Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami's latest book "1Q84" went to Munhakdongne on Monday for an undisclosed sum, and speculation is running high whether the advance exceeds the US$1 million paid earlier this year for the Korean rights of "The Solomon Key" by Dan Brown.

"1Q84" sold over 1 million copies as soon as it was published in Japan in May. Some dozen publishers bid for the Korean rights. The advance for Murakami's previous book "Kafka on the Shore" was W500 million, but that may have doubled for the new book. "The minimum bid to enter the competition was W1 billion," a staffer at a major publishing company said.

In the 1990s, Korean rights went for about $20,000, but competition increased the sums to $100,000-200,000 from the 2000s, and they are still rising.

Murakami is published in over 40 countries, and more than a dozen of his books are available in Korean, including his most popular, the bittersweet love story "Norwegian Wood," which sold more than 6 million copies in Japan and over 1 million here.