Review: Korea: A Walk Through the Land of Miracles

Korea: A Walk Through the Land of Miracles by Simon Winchester
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Like others, I read (and loved) "The Professor and the Madman", so when I saw the same author had written a book about Korea, I had to read it. Hmmmm. 

Some interesting notes:

- There used to be fencing all along the East coast (was this still there when I was there? It definitely wasn't as popular as it is now)

- Apparently you couldn't keep maps you bought outside the country. 

- The maps also didn't specify a border between North and South Korea (is this true??)

- Koreans weren't issued passports during the 1980s (?)

- I'd like to know more about the Catholic priests and nuns in Jejudo at the time. 

- The story about Jeju's (possibly) communist uprising before the Korean war was fascinating. 

- And at some point he says he mentions a Korean poet (brother of the buddhist monk he is hanging out with), called Hwang Chi-woo. Thanks to google, I can now confirm that it is probably this person: https://wordswithoutborders.org/contributors/view/hwang-ji-woo/

- Also fascinating about the Chollipo arboretum. 

Some others have commented on how critical he seems of US military personnel in Korea. While I find his general attitude very annoying, from what I remember from the 90s in Korea, some of that military personnel really wasn't the type you'd want to hang out with. Back then we would avoid Itaewon like the plague. Still, he constantly makes use of Americans and their facilities for places to stay, transportation, letting him go to the DMZ, etc., but feels the need to trash them at every turn, and loves to mention how much more he is respected as an Englishmen than an American would be. 

While we're at it, his attitude toward Korean women is irritating to say the least. Apparently they all can't get enough of him and seem to throw themselves at him. 

The most interesting part of the book is at the very end, when he mentions someone (whose name he isn't allowed to disclose), who apparently was allowed to go back and forth from South to North Korea and back freely. I assume, at this point, this person is retired and/or has passed away, but I can't seem to find any information on who it might be. 

2.5 stars

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Review: Sweet Potato: Collected Short Stories

Sweet Potato: Collected Short Stories by Kim Tongin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I feel a bit embarrassed to say this, but this book just never really clicked for me. Many of the stories blend in together and I can't say I enjoyed most of them. In fact, I gave up and came back to this book more than once. 

Regardless, I guess my favorite stories were probably Fire Sonata and Sweet Potato. 

I feel guilty because I know Kim Tongjin is considered a very important author in early modern Korean literature - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Dong-in . Maybe much of it was just over my head, or I don't understand the symbolism or background behind what he was writing. 

Apparently the story "Traitor" is about Yi Kwang-su? If so that is quite interesting. 

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Review: The Guest

The Guest by Hwang Sok-yong
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is much heavier than the other books I've read by this author (Familiar Things and At Dusk). It is also fundamentally different, dealing quite literally with the ghosts of the past. Two brothers, born in North Korea before the war, who escaped, and then became ministers in the United States. One of the brothers passes away a few days before the younger one goes back to visit North Korea. 

None of it is gratuitous, but there is plenty of horror and murder. More specifically, many things that were blamed on the Americans and Japanese, turn out not to have been them at all, but to have been North Koreans against other North Koreans; quite literally neighbor against neighbor and families turning on each other. 

Apparently the author caught quite a bit of flack for this novel. 

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Review: Wolves

Wolves by Jeon Sungtae
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A collection of short stories. I enjoyed them for the most part. Interestingly almost all of them take place in Mongolia, with the Korean population there (Korean businessmen, North Korean refugees & immigrants). Got me interested in possibly reading some Mongolian fiction at some point. 

Once again, since Goodreads doesn't give me enough space in the private section, I am writing my synopses in this public section for my notes. So, fair notice, MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW:

The Magnolia: It is the name of a North Korean restaurant in Ulaan Bataar. This same restaurant features in other stories. I liked this one. A new chef from North Korea is announced, and people love the food. But it turns out the chef never arrived.

Wolves: This was interesting, but too many characters and points of view for a short story, at least for me. I got lost. Like, why was the hunter obsessed with catching the black wolf? And why alive?

Southern plants. A South Korean who is not sure whether to help a Mongolian go to South Korea illegally. Also deals with some waitresses in the Magnolia. And the South Korean cheated on his wife, who left him and is back with their daughter in Seoul. 

Korean soldier: Probably my favorite thus far. A Korean poet comes to Mongolia for 3 months. He gets mugged, almost get assaulted outside an internet cafe, and then gets locked out of his apartment. He then gets some rope from a construction site and is able to lower himself to his window. 

Second waltz: I'm not sure I got this one. A poet is going to a town to look for a North Korean woman who is supposed to live in the mountains around there. A policeman asks for his papers, and when he can't produce them, tells him he can't leave the hotel. But it turns out the copy is in love with the lady acting as the poet's guide. They find where the old lady lived, but it sounds like she died. 

Chinese Fireworks. This one is a touching story about homeless children in Mongolia asking for recyclables they can resell. 

River Crossers: The first story not taking place in Mongolia. This is also probably the most depressing story. Every story I read about crossing from North Korea over the border involves the death of a child. I might skip these from now on. 

Has anyone seen my shoes: This was quirky and sort of fun. An old man in an island off the coast of Jeolla-do still uses an ox when farming, so he's featured in the news once a year. But he's hungover and not sure why his shoes are missing and he has a different pair. They might belong to a friend of his, originally from NOrth Korea, who is a police officer. It turns out he might have drowned himself. I'm not sure I get the end though. 

Kids need money too: Oddly enough, another story featuring shoes. These are running shoes. A kid is a good runner, so he has top of the line shoes and eats ox meat soup, paid for by his school principal. Anyway, the narrator finds money on the ground, buys the same shoes, but then borrows the money to return it, and has to pay off his debt. He and the other kid are helping with a chore, since they have the good shoes, and then..? Once again, not sure I got the ending. 

Imitayshun: I liked this one. A Korean guy who looks like a 'hapa' (half korean, half foreigner) works at an English cram school in a newly built city. It recounts the crap he went through growing up looking different, and how he can reinvent himself here. 

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Review: The Great Successor: The Divinely Perfect Destiny of Brilliant Comrade Kim Jong Un

The Great Successor: The Divinely Perfect Destiny of Brilliant Comrade Kim Jong Un by Anna Fifield
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was 100% fascinating. Given the rare glimpses and the misinformation involved with North Korea, it is all sorts of interesting to have someone give a coherent (or as coherent as can be expected) account of Kim Jong-un's life.

Having attended school in Switzerland a few years prior to Kim Jong-un, I had heard various rumors about him and his siblings there, so it was good to read something that made a bit more sense.

Some of the information was truly surprising, such as the use of meth in North Korea. Some of those user rates seemed extremely high, so I wonder if they can be verified in any way.

The chapter on the talks with Trump was excellent: "After all, the leaders of the two countries had only seven years of political experience between them. Six of them were on Kim Jong Un's side." And then they struck a deal. The country that has reneged on ALL of its nuclear deals promised a vaguely worded agreement of working toward the denuclearization of the peninsula (which, weirdly, would include South Korea). In exchange the U.S. ordered the suspension of US military exercises with South Korea (which was a surprise to South Korea and Japan).

When Kim Yo-Jong (Kim Jong-un's sister) went to South Korea for the olympics, she stayed in the hotel suite, but she brought her own cot to sleep in, and didn't leave one fingerprint or strand of DNA. When Kim Jong-un attended the summit in Singapore, his agents occupied his suite for two days after he left in order to get rid of every single trace of DNA he may have left. As much as the west likes to make fun of them, these guys really seem to know what they're doing now.

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Review: The Square

The Square by In-hun Choi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Apparently this is considered a classic in Korean literature, and I am sure I don't appreciate it fully for the time and place in which it was written (I know that it was written shortly after books like it were even allowed to be printed). There is probably also quite a bit of symbolism that is over my head.

It covers a man moving from South Korea to North Korea and back South (and then to a "Neutral country"), starting before the war and ending after it, although there is pretty much nothing about the war itself.

The juxtaposition between the two countries was probably one of the first that was ever made in literature.

I did, however, find the protagonist pretty annoying at times. I guess it was due to principle, but he seemed rather spoiled, naive and too idealistic at times. I'm not sure if this was on purpose or not.

The ending was really beautiful in its own way.

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Review: The North Korean Revolution, 1945-1950

The North Korean Revolution, 1945-1950 by Charles K. Armstrong
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is probably the best book I've come across detailing the period between the end of WWII and the beginning of the Korean War, from when North Korea was established to when it tried (and briefly succeeded) to invade the South. It was during this period that Kim Il-Sung set up North Korea as we know it today.

It was also very interesting to read about the Chondogyo religion and its spread during that time. I knew next to nothing about this before. Apparently it still exists in South Korea (with over 1 million followers!)

Highlighted passages:
"To this day, the language spoken by most Koreans in Yanbian is based on the Hamgyong dialect" (p. 18)

"In Germany as many as 2 million women were raped by members of the Soviet occupation forces". (p. 44)

"The state attempted to reverse the previous hierarchy and to put those of "good songbun", or the formerly "persecuted classes", on top." (p. 72)

"In Soviet-type economies, the state does not substitute for the working class, but rather for the exploiting class. The state then "creates" the working class, which is politically and economically dependent on the state and its officials" (p. 137)

"This helped the DPRK to remain viable after the Mongolian People's Republic, the one genuine Soviet Satellite in Asia, lost its legitimacy after the collapse of communist states in Eastern Europe" (p. 190)



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The Accusation: Forbidden Stories from Inside North Korea by Bandi

The Accusation: Forbidden Stories from Inside North Korea by Bandi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"The South Korean publication of this piece of fiction, which sharply criticizes and satirizes the North Korean regime, and which is written by a man who still lives and works under that same system, is a historical first - [...] No work denouncing the oppressive, antidemocratic regime of North Korea, by a writer still living in North Korea, has ever before been published." (From the Afterword)

The stories are depressing and oppressing. They felt rather claustrophobic and suffocating to me, and I guess that means they're written well. It brings home what it is like to live in a regime like North Korea's, and it isn't pretty. Almost equally amazing and interesting is the story of how the manuscript was finally smuggled out of North Korea, as described in the Afterword.

Regardless, this is a very important and unique book.


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