The opening of the borders with the Republic of Korea in 1990 provided Russian researchers with a huge layer of new material. Thanks to the efforts of Russian translators, with the support of the Korean Literature Translations Institute (KLTI), the popularization of South Korean modern prose and poetry began in Russia. For example, there was an acquaintance with such resonant works of modern South Korean authors as Lee Seung Woo (novel “The Secret Life of Plants”, 2013, publishing house “Hyperion”) and Han Gang (novel “Vegetarian”, 2018, publishing house “AST”). It would seem that the stories and storylines that are revealed in these two novels describe modern events and characters. However, it is noteworthy that against the background of the unfolding conflicts and family dramas, the main idea of the works is concentrated, nevertheless, in the Far Eastern philosophy in general and in the traditional representations of the Koreans in particular. It is interesting to see how modern Korean authors interpret the traditional image in the new realities, what is the share of the universal and Korean way of thinking in the new interpretation of the old, how this new image correlates with images from traditional classical Korean literature. And finally, why modern writers do not stop referring to this topic and, moreover, actualized the problems.