Author: Eung-joon Lee
Publisher: Minumsa
Hardcover | 268 pages | 205*145mm
| Important! Please read before you order! |
| >>>This book is written in Korean. |
About This Book
Any Korean might imagine the reunification of the Korean Peninsula
some may be longing for it while others dislike it.
A new novel "Private Life of a Nation" written by author Lee Eung-joon
portrays the dark reality of reunification through his fictional
characters.
The author spent three years studying North Korean defectors and read
about 300 books related to North Korea.
The novel is a combination of various genres such as noir, thriller,
black comedy, fable and melodrama and vividly depicts North Koreans who
fail to adapt themselves to the new capitalist society stricken with
drugs, sex and crime.
But at the same time, the book intensively deals with the matter of
identification among Koreans after reunification from a "private"
perspective rather than a political one.
The story is set in Seoul in 2016, five years after the two Koreas are
unified. After North Korea was absorbed by the South in 2011, the North
Korean army of 1.2 million soldiers was dismantled by the unified
government. An enormous amount of conventional weapons were lost,
creating social disorder and the forcibly discharged soldiers must seek
new jobs.
The North still remains barren without any decent social infrastructure,
driving North Koreans into the South to search for a decent life. Some
of them become social ragtags or gangsters in South.
In the novel, the unified Korea is mixed with confusion and conflict
between North and South Koreans. Such chaos is fused in an organized
gangster syndicate that consists of North Koreans, former central
figures in the North Korean army who have failed to adapt themselves to
the new society.
The story unfolds with a mysterious murder in the crime syndicate known
as "Daedong River." Lee Gang, a former North Korean soldier, is the
charismatic second man for the crime syndicate.
During a trip to Pyongyang, one of his colleagues is murdered. As Lee
looks into the case, he gets entangled in a complicated scheme.
The story is full of the vivid portrayals of cruel and relentless crime
scenes strongly reminiscent of a film noir.
Through the character of Lee Gang, the author tries to elaborate his
vision about the collapse of a heroic North Korean warrior who dabbles
in drugs and crime to sooth his sense of futility after reunification.
The protagonist is described as a sympathetic figure suffering strong
oppressive feelings, and wanting to shoot himself on the street if he
had a gun. The author also draws him as a man who is living, but has
"already died," which indicates his lost identity.
The story shows not only Lee's desperation but also the miserable lives
of other North Koreans. The daughter of a former North Korean
high-ranking military officer works as a prostitute, while an ex-North
Korean announcer hangs herself and North Korean teachers are driven out
of schools. Also, more than 60 slums housing North Koreans sprout up
across the nation.
The story also reveals South Korean society's ills such as the strong
obsession for real estate, showing many South Koreans claiming
ancestors' rights before the Korean War over North Korean land.
"The South Korean-style capitalism is real estate. Look at what these
villains are doing now after going far above the cease-fire line. They
are going to build a church on the top of Mt. Myohyang and claim the
rights to the waters of the Daedong River," the book says.
The unified Korea in the novel is apparently gloomy and chaotic
particularly for North Koreans. The author shows how individuals are
affected by a great change in history, which they cannot influence, and
how they cope with this in their daily lives.
-- Chung Ah-young,
www.koreatimes.co.kr
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