New Translated NK Fiction Anthology: Hidden Heroes

Earlier this year, Anthem Press published an anthology of North Korean short fiction selected and translated into English by North Korean literature scholars Immanuel Kim and Benoit Berthelier. Titled Hidden Heroes: Anthology of North Korean Fiction, the book sets out to showcase stories of everyday North Koreans' struggles that were part of the "hidden heroes" theme campaign launched by the Korean Writers' Union in 1980. As Kim & Berthelier describe it in their introduction: "While past heroes basked in fame and glory proportional to their extraordinary deeds, the new hidden heroes humbly worked their mundane jobs and diligently carried out their political duties. They assisted the collective without anyone knowing and yet were presented as essential to the functioning of the country’s socialist system." This movement coincided with something of a renaissance in North Korean literary quality in the 1980s and early 1990s, generating stories far more lyrically expressive and less dogmatic than anything seen on the pages of Chosŏn Munhak today. 

Two of the ten stories included in this book were previously summarized right here on this very blog way back in 2016-17, in two of my earliest efforts: A Shift Manager's Day (a.k.a. "A Day in the Life of a Female Manager") and Neighbors. This seemingly incredible coincidence becomes less incredible when I remember where I found those particular stories - they were both in an anthology of North Korean short stories "Where the Cuckoo Bird Sings" [뻐꾹새가 노래하는 곳] put out by South Korean publisher Sallimtŏ in 1994. Such a publication was possible in the early 1990s, at the height of a renaissance in inter-Korean cultural exchange, but as I recall the publisher was later raided by the NIS and charged with illegally possessing North Korean materials in violation of the National Security Law. A friend in Seoul lent me an old copy, and in the first year of this blog that was one of the few sources of North Korean fiction available to me. I also reviewed "Fragrance of Life" from that same anthology.

Comparing the two anthologies, I see that Kim and Berthelier's selection overlaps with Sallimtŏ on a total of three stories: in addition to the two already mentioned, they also included '행운'에 대한 기대 by Han Ung Bin, which they translated as "Hoping for Luck to Strike". Coincidentally, Sallimtŏ is the same press that in 1995 published a South Korean edition of Paek Nam Nyong's "Friend", the same novel later translated into English and published to great acclaim by Immanuel Kim. Of all the gin joints in all the world...

The editors of "Hidden Heroes" say they made a conscious decision to avoid stories about the leader Kims, as these "would have further reinforced and entrenched preconceptions of North Korean literature as mere hagiographical propaganda when [...] the cult-of-personality genre is only practiced by a few chosen authors and does not constitute the majority of literary production." This may be true if one looks at the totality of North Korean literature from 1945 onward, giving equal weight to each title, and limiting the definition of "Leader hagiographies" to stories that literally feature one of the leader Kims as a speaking character. 

However, not all North Korean literature is created equal. The leader-centric novels of the three "Imperishable" series receive far greater attention, larger print runs on better quality paper with longer-lasting binding, more reprintings, far wider circulation, and greater emphasis in required educational curricula than any other novels. The “few chosen authors” who write Kim stories include all of the most celebrated names in contemporary North Korean literature. Aside from the Imperishable Series novels, short stories published in the monthly journal Chosŏn Munhak featuring the leaders can be up to twice as long as other stories and always come first in the print order. 

Moreover, even stories by lower-ranked authors who cannot portray the leaders directly almost always have a core political message pointing back to the Leader or Party. In this blog, we have seen time and again how lower-ranked authors work around their restrictions by creating a character clearly modeled on the leader who guides the protagonists toward the necessary epiphany, or by having the protagonist find inspiration at a pivotal moment by seeing the Leader's car tracks or recalling one of his famous quotations or listening to an inspirational song mix sent over by the Leader, etc. 

In addition, it should be pointed out that politics-heavy stories have become more pervasive in the Kim Jong Un era, and the time frame of the selection hints at the difficulty the editors had avoiding such contents. None of the stories included in "Hidden Heroes" are particularly fresh – the newest was originally published in 2009, and most are over thirty years old. Of course, since these ten stories were allegedly selected for their representation of the "hidden heroes" movement, which started in 1980, it is possible that this simply reflects the limits of the movement's lifespan. However, as someone who generally covers more recent output, I assess that the "hidden heroes" theme is still very much alive in North Korean literary fiction today – the difference is that the quality of the prose has declined sharply since the 1990s, and such stories have grown more overtly dogmatic with stronger political messages. As examples from this blog, I could point to "Night Path" (July 2016),"Morning of Departure" (September 2016), and "Our Heavens" (November 2017). 

The editors endeavored to avoid "selecting texts primarily based on their appeal to foreign readers" since this "would have required us to justify a collection of historically and stylistically unrelated works compiled based on the aesthetic criteria of a foreign readership." I am not sure if they entirely succeeded in this regard. The fact that no recent "hidden heroes" stories are included suggests to me that the selections were made for their literary quality at the expense of representativeness. Certainly, the editors of the overlapping Sallimtŏ anthology made no bones about deliberately choosing the highest-quality stories by South Korean standards in order to show off the very best of North Korean short fiction in hopes of fostering a sense of common humanity and respect, while studiously avoiding stories with off-putting political contents. 

I remember how I struggled with those Sallimtŏ stories because of their challenging vocabulary and advanced literary idioms, and how everything got so much easier once I finally got access to the more recent fiction with its simplistic grammar, repetitive vocabulary, and too-proper speech. I also remember showing one of the Sallimtŏ stories to a young North Korean defector friend who was totally blown away by the quality of the writing. She said she had never seen anything like it in her 17 years of actually living in North Korea and reading the officially assigned texts.

Of course, it would do little good to take up time and space translating a bunch of dogmatic ideological stories about the glorious achievements of the Korean Workers Party and its heroic leaders. The editors are correct in saying that to do so would only magnify already well-cemented stereotypes about North Korea. However, I do wish they had included one or two stories from the last decade to show the contrast in quality and give a better sense of the current status and trajectory of North Korean fiction. Doing so would also help insulate them from prickly "well-actually" critiques by negative nellies like myself. As it stands, readers are likely to come away from this anthology with an unrealistically rose-tinted impression of contemporary North Korean literature that overlooks the very real problems that come with putting an all-powerful political party in charge of all literary production.

Anyway, it was fun for me to look back on these stories that I had wallowed through back when I was still really struggling with the grammar and idioms of literary North Korean language. I remember back then I had a thing about not gendering characters based solely on their names or professions, which meant I had to wait for the story to use a term like "sister" "husband" "그녀" etc or else hunt for clues in speech patterns. It seems that Kim & Berthelier's translations support all of my guesses. I screwed up some of the textile-weaving vocabulary in "A Shift Manager's Day", but otherwise I think I did all right.

Personally my favorite part of the book, and probably its most useful contribution for most researchers, is the short introductions preceding each story. These give important context about the real socio-political issues at play behind each story as well as biographical details about the authors and their career paths. I only wish there were citations for some of those biographical details, so one could know for certain if they are relying on official North Korean publications or more independent sources, like the exile interviews in Tatiana Gabroussenko's Soldiers on the Cultural Front. We have seen before how official North Korean biographies can exaggerate or omit important details, sometimes to emphasize an author's humble and "ordinary" origins, and sometimes for no clear reason.

Full disclosure: Immanuel Kim is a friend of mine, and Benoit Berthelier was an early supplier of many stories reviewed on this blog.

Great Love (#1): North Korean writer 'ships Hitler-Queen Victoria romance

Reading North Korean literature, one encounters more than the usual share of falsehoods. Most of these have obvious background motives - making a Party policy seem more successful, justified, or necessary. Making the country's actions seem more important, its people more envied in the eyes of the world. Making their continued isolation and resistance of reform seem like a very prescient and wise choice. Then again, some falsehoods are not exactly "lies" so much as honest mistakes, likely stemming from limited or poorly translated resource materials, amusing but understandable.

But every once in a while, I come across a real head-scratcher, such as the one that stopped me in my tracks recently while reading the 1987 novel "Great Love" [위대한 사랑] by Ch'oi Ch'ang Hak.

What might have been?

The novel is the 11th entry in the important "Imperishable History" series of novels narrating the life of Kim Il Sung. Set in colonial Manchuria in summer 1937, most of the action is centered around Kim and his band of guerrillas. The novel also tangentially covers the Marco Polo Bridge incident [7.7사변] and the outbreak of the second Sino-Japanese war, and includes some interesting character sketches of Kwantung Army officers involved in the "punitive force" that hunted down resistance leaders in Manchukuo.

One of the more morally ambiguous Japanese characters in this novel is the journalist Kobayashi, a veteran reporter newly deployed as a war correspondent on the Manchuria front. As often is the case, the Japanese journalist character seems less bloodthirsty and more intelligent than his military counterparts and serves as a relatively honest witness to their machinations and foibles, while nonetheless dutifully parrotting their lies. When we first encounter Kobayashi, he is fresh off of a long multi-country tour with his newspaper's CEO [사장님] and newly arrived on the Manchuria front. 

Arriving in camp, he is swiftly taken under the wing of "punitive force" Commander Umiyama. Weary of life on the front and desperate for news of the wider world, Umiyama eagerly quizzes Kobayashi on his recent world tour. This produces the following interaction:

   [Umiyama:] “Kobayashi, you must have seen so much. Which country did you visit first?”

   “England.”

   “England…”

   “Our CEO had been wanting to meet Queen Victoria for some time. England has been expanding overseas since the 16th century, and its colonies are 200 times the size of our own territory. It seems that our CEO found it strange that the storied old British Empire has a queen in a skirt.”

   Umiyama scooted closer to Kobayashi, growing animated. “Your CEO has great curiosity. So, how was it meeting her? She must be a great person, being the queen of the British Empire. Who was it that seduced Antony across the sea? Ah, yes, that was the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra. How does she compare?"

   “Well, there was nothing really special about her. Nothing really stood out. If there was one thing I could mention, it was that when she held out her hand, her fingernails were very long.”

   Kobayashi spoke casually, as if he had just visited a new elementary school teacher in a neighboring town. After all, accompanying the CEO of a large newspaper with a worldwide circulation, he had dealt with more than a dozen emperors, presidents, and prime ministers.

   “Well, how did such a woman become the queen of the British Empire? Is her skirt swish that strong? The British have strange tastes, I guess.” Umiyama tilted his head in puzzlement.

Queen Victoria in 1887

   “The throne is hereditary. That country has very strong hereditary traditions and customs. So strong, in fact, that despite being a constitutional monarchy, there is no written constitution –  traditions and customs take the place of the constitution. Chamberlain handles politics, and the woman lives a luxurious life as a symbol, attended by her servants, but that doesn't mean she is indifferent to politics. The queen secretly fears Hitler. So our CEO suggested that she should follow Cleopatra's example and cozy up to Hitler. To that, the queen answered that she was not beautiful enough to seduce Hitler, and anyway one of Hitler's peculiarities is that he avoids women. Haha!” Kobayashi laughed loudly and heartily.  [...]

   “It seems you had a nice conversation with the queen. So what was your impression of Hitler, whom the queen fears so much?”

   “Well, what can I say? He is representative of all the modern-day gangsters and madmen who are obsessed with self-confidence. That madman thinks that he alone can rule this world. Mussolini is similar to Hitler in temperament, but he is a bit more stupid… That gammy-legged Roosevelt in the White House showed a hint of arrogance and cunning…” [...]

   The more he talked, the more Umiyama clicked his tongue in wonder. “Ah, reporters have such mighty tongues. Even when the president refuses meeting requests from ministers, still he’ll talk to a reporter.”

Ex-King Edward VIII (Victoria's great-grandson) 
and his wife Wallis Simpson meeting Hitler in 1937

Even the casual student of European history will appreciate just how fanciful the above conversation is. Queen Victoria died in 1901 - it's one of those dates that is easy to remember. Her three grandsons were all grown men when they famously declared war on one another in 1914. Even for a woman of her considerable abilities, Queen Victoria would indeed have had a hard time seducing Hitler from beyond the grave.

Of course, the typical North Korean writer has limited resources and cannot just hop over to Wikipedia to check dates. The author of this novel, however, was a member of the ultra-elite 4.15 Literary Production Unit, the highest ranked writers in the country, who enjoy extraordinary privileges. They reportedly have offices in a gated complex in the suburbs of Pyongyang featuring an extensive library of foreign literature and source material. Furthermore, the editorial review process an Imperishable Series novel must undergo prior to publication is notoriously arduous. And even a North Korean encyclopedia will accurately relay the basic facts about the life and death of major historical figures. It is unlikely that this was an unwitting mistake. It is also unlikely that it would have gone completely unnoticed by educated North Korean readers.

Entry for Queen Victoria in the Grand (North) Korean 
Encyclopedia [조선대백과사전] (1999)

So, why lie? North Korean historical novels, as works of fiction, are free to take liberties with details, imagine conversations between historical individuals, or invent characters like Kobayashi to place amidst the action. However, they are not in the business of fantasy world-building or "what-if?"-style alternate history. Why not just stick to talking about the real monarch, who at that time was George VI?

Empress Cixi and her
iconic fingernails

My best guess is that the author wanted to write something about Queen Elizabeth II, but knew that that would be even less believable, and figured Victoria would be a more forgivable anachronism. Neither queen was known to have particularly long fingernails, but the detail brings to mind Empress Cixi, who was perhaps another inspiration here. The author seems to want to say something about the folly of modern constitutional monarchies, and perhaps a king was just not as compelling as a target of mockery.

The other part of the above conversation that may have history buffs scratching their heads is the unsparingly hostile attitude that these Japanese characters display specifically towards the leaders of Italy and Germany. Especially in the pivotal year of 1937, one might expect these men to have warmer regard for their new allies in the Anti-Comintern Pact. Yet the journalist Kobayashi seems to go out of his way to disparage Hitler and Mussolini even more than other world leaders, and the Kwantung Army commander raises no apparent objections. It really makes me question the author's priorities here. Any American novelist writing about this time period who wanted to make a Japanese character look bad would probably go for the low-hanging fruit of having him speak admiringly of the Nazis. Perhaps the author feared that readers would not be sophisticated enough to pick up on the idea of an unreliable narrator; or perhaps the priority was to show how duplicitous the Japanese privately are even toward ostensible friends, at the cost of making them seem less enthusiastic about fascism.

Incidentally, the titular "Great Love" refers not to Hitler-Victoria but to the love that motivated  Kim and his fellow guerrillas to care for young war orphans under their wing.

UPDATE 11/25 - On a recent visit to the archives, I checked out the 2021 reprinting of Great Love and discovered that this conversation has been neatly edited to eliminate mention of Queen Victoria. The relevant changed text now reads:

   "Our CEO had been wanting to visit England for some time now. After all, England has been expanding overseas since the 16th century and has many colonies. To our CEO, Great Britain must have seemed like a mythical land. But even Great Britain seemed terrified of the newborn Germany." Kobayashi laughed loudly and heartily. [...]

   "So, what was your impression of Hitler, whom even the British Empire fears so much?"

The book was first published in 1987 and a second printing in 1991 kept the Queen Victoria conversation intact, so apparently nobody thought to change it until the third edition came out in 2021. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall for that conversation.

Much Ado about Bush (2004): Mafia goons take over the White House

 "The Bush Uproar" [부쉬소동], or my preferred translation "Much Ado about Bush," is a sci-fi story by blog favorite Ŏm Ho Sam that appeared in Chŏngnyŏn Munhak in March 2004. I'd had my eye out for this one for a long time, and I finally got access to a copy. It did not disappoint.

Despite collecting a pretty exhaustive database, I've found no up-close depictions of President George W. Bush in any of the high-profile Imperishable Series novels. By contrast, Clinton appears in several, and Obama appears in two. Bush, it seems, was relegated to a handful of mocking poems and this one imaginative short story by a low-ranked writer who specializes in sci-fi (the same author would go on to write An Ordinary Day and Dignity). This was published in Chongnyon Munhak, the Party's literary magazine for emerging writers, indicating the author was less experienced than the typical Chosŏn Munhak writer and likely had less access to foreign reference materials – and it shows.

The story depicts a plot by a vaguely defined "middle eastern mafia organization" to kidnap President George W. Bush and replace him with an imposter, using technology similar to the kind that allowed Nicholas Cage and John Travolta to switch faces in the 1997 classic "Face/Off." 

The story features fanciful depictions of a dysfunctional First Family, NSA Condoleezza Rice leading a helicopter attack squadron in full combat gear, a chaotic proceeding before the US Supreme Court, and an alternate-reality Dick Cheney who willingly declines power.

The Plot

The story opens with Bush at his lakeside retreat, getting an unexpected early-morning visit from his daughter Jenna. They banter playfully, and he guesses (accurately) that she wants money. They chat via video call with Laura Bush, who is in Mexico City viewing a beauty pageant; Bush teases that she should enter the competition: "If you wear a bikini, I bet you'll win first prize." 

They are interrupted by Special Advisor Rice (특별보좌관 라이스), who says she has urgent business. Bush gives his daughter $20,000 (via "internet money transfer"), and Jenna flounces off, delighted.

Rice reports that some intruders were spotted lurking on the grounds. The guards chased after them but  only recovered a cryptic note: "A new adventure begins!"

Reading the note, Bush suddenly looks thoughtful – arousing Rice's suspicions. "Bush's eyes, which always looked gloomy or dull, now had the look of a gambler at a card table or a bank robber opening a safe full of cash. When she looked again, it was just his normal face, void of any sense of intelligence." 

Even more suspiciously, he tells her that the intruders are "part of a mafia group connected to Al Qaeda" and that they’re "targeting the hardliners who have declared war on terrorism," including himself. Without revealing where he got the information, he tells her that this mafia has a secret base at an isolated villa in the Rocky Mountains and orders her to "personally command the FBI and the Defense Department Special Forces" to "wipe them out mercilessly."

Two days later, Rice comes to report to Bush at the White House, fresh from the assault and still in her combat gear. Bush is eager for video confirmation that the compound has been destroyed. We get a birds-eye view of the attack on the compound, which has a lot of satisfying explosions and automatic weapons fire. Toward the end, there is a brief glimpse of two special forces soldiers supporting a limping man covered in blood. 

   “Wait, who is that?” Bush froze the screen and demanded, looking anxious.

   “That’s a man who’d been kidnapped. Luckily he was confined in the basement of the villa, so he survived, but he suffered severe injuries, memory loss, and speech paralysis. We haven't even determined his name and address yet.”

   “Shut up,” Bush suddenly snapped. Startled, Rice jumped up from her chair. Bush's profanity kicked up a notch. [...] “How many times must I repeat it before you understand? These terrorists are targeting American politicians. However, no one from the White House or Congress has yet been kidnapped. So that man must be a terrorist. Where is he now?”

   Rice could not hide her surprise when Bush's speech showed a glimmer of logic, however faint. When was the president ever so wise? In a crisis, does a dimwit suddenly sprout intelligence? 

Despite her suspicions, Rice promises to take care of it. Half an hour later, she returns with the disquieting news that the man apparently fled from a "charity hospital" where he'd been taken for treatment. The doctors believed he was mentally unstable. Bush appears upset at this news and orders that the man be found immediately and "shot on sight, whether he is out of his mind or not." 

Hoping to cheer him up, Rice hands him a letter that just arrived for him, "from a college classmate, I think." Bush waits until she leaves before tearing it open:

   “Paul, you know what betrayal means in our organization. Death will visit you within a few days. Understand that evading it is futile! Jefferson.”

   His face darkened as he read the lines.

   Paul was the real name of the man who was now pretending to be president. Jefferson was a senior researcher at the Carnegie Endowment and a leading member of the mafia.

   (So, Jefferson still lives? Oh, right, there were only 8 bodies found. So, two are still alive. Ah, I forgot how cunning Jefferson is…)

    The fake Bush/Paul tore at his hair with both hands...

The story shifts to the Washington DC suburbs, where a lonely policeman is nodding off at his station, daydreaming of winning the lottery and traveling to see the world. His daydreams are interrupted when a weak, disheveled figure lumbers into the doorway and stutters, "I... am… Pre-si-dent... Bush..." Squinting, the cop recognizes his face from "a promotional photo" that was posted in town a few years ago during the presidential election (because really, how else would a random American know what their president looks like?). Before losing consciousness, this Bush just manages to explain "The man pretending to be president is a mafia member named Paul."

The last act takes place at the US Supreme Court [미련방최고재판소], where "an unprecedented trial was taking place to determine who was the real President of the United States." The trial is presided over by a single "chief of court" [재판소장]. The chief is anxious not to screw this up, because he knows the whole country is watching, and "As a father with five daughters all past the age of marriage, he was concerned that a mistake at this trial could leave him humiliated and unemployed." If only Supreme Court justices could be dismissed so easily...

Two identical Bushes sit in the dock. In the witness stand are five people: First Lady Laura Bush, her twin daughters "Jenna and Bamara," Condoleezza Rice, and the suburban policeman who discovered the other Bush. 

The cop looks bewildered and terrified. Before the prosecutor can finish reading the indictment, he flees the courtroom, declaring: "I won’t say anything. I don’t know which of these bums– I mean, which of these men is the real president, and it doesn't matter to me. There is nothing to be gained for me here. America is the land of freedom, so I’m free to testify or not. Anyway, I feel dirty for getting involved in this messy game. Ahh- [spits]."

The trial proceeds, but the witnesses will only give vague and noncommittal answers. Meanwhile, the two Bushes keep shouting profanities, each insisting that he is "the real Bush." This is getting nowhere, so the chief justice changes strategies. He instructs each of the witnesses to try asking questions only the real Bush would know. 

Rice tries first:

   “Mr. President, where did we first meet?”

   “I don’t know,” answered the Bush on the right. “Wasn’t it a brothel?” followed the Bush on the left.     

   Laughter erupted from the audience.

   Rice, her face red, pursed her lips and sat down. Now the president's eldest daughter, Jenna, stood up confidently.

   “Father, what do your daughters love most?”

   “Alcohol and money,” the two Bushes answered simultaneously, as if they had planned it.

   “Then, what about Mom?” asked younger sister Bamara, not giving anyone a chance to react.

   “Men,” both Bushes again answered in unison. Loud laughter erupted in the hall.

Then a random person from the audience stands up, introduces himself as "Dr. Arthur of XXX Biological Research Institute" and  suggests that they "conduct genetic tests comparing the blood of two indictees with that of the president’s twin daughters, Miss Jenna and Miss Bamara. Then we will be able to find out who the real President Bush is."

The chief justice looks delighted at this idea; but Laura Bush turns pale. "As a woman who had many affairs in her youth, she was not even sure whose blood her twin daughters had inherited."

Luckily for her, at this point the Bush on the left interrupts: "Wait. There’s no need for that." He tells the astonished court, "Neither of us is President Bush. My name is Jefferson, and his name is Paul." The whole court listens in stunned silence to his tale.

   "You will all be wondering how the two of us have the same face as President Bush. But these are not our real faces. Paul had facial surgery a few months ago in order to kidnap the President and set him up in his place. And I got a muscular injection a few days ago to change my face.

   "The reason I sought to become President Bush, knowing of this plot, was to expose the identity of Paul, after he betrayed and brutally murdered his comrades. How ridiculous is it, that this mere pimp who owns a brothel in New York should pretend to be president? Of course, in the United States, there is no law that says a brothel owner cannot become president." In Jefferson's last words there was a note of sadness.

   The chief of court, finally regaining his senses, asked: “Then where is the real President Bush?”

   “Advisor Rice will know more about that. He was admitted to a charity hospital,” said Paul, who had been holding his peace until now.

   Rice gaped wide-eyed, seemingly forgetting the very tense atmosphere in the courtroom. After a moment, her clever mind began moving properly again, and she hastily apologized. “I really didn’t know. During the military attack on the mafia, one man was rescued; I guess that must have been President Bush. At that time, the president's face looked different, either damaged in the attack or altered by some drug. Also, a severe concussion had caused him to lose his memory and paralyzed his speech functions, making it impossible to identify him. But anyway, even if that man is the real president, I don't know where he is now. He ran away from the charity hospital. The doctors reported he did not appear in his right mind.”

With the president's whereabouts unknown, an emergency meeting of the National Security Council is convened in "a secret conference room at the White House" to decide on a transition. Rice begins, “I fully support Vice President Cheney taking over all powers of the President in accordance with the U.S. Constitution.” 

However, to everyone's bafflement, Cheney votes against himself. His initial thrill at the prospect of becoming president had given way to fear that he too could be kidnapped. Also, he has no desire to "take over the American government and economy that Bush had ruined."

The story ends with a plaintive scene:

   Right as this NSC meeting was taking place, a charity organization was providing free meals to the poor in the park before the main gate of the White House.

   Among the rows of unemployed and homeless, there was a man with the slack-jawed look of a mental patient. After an hour of waiting, the man finally took an empty bowl and approached the cook.

   Perhaps because his speech was paralyzed, the man just grinned appealingly at the cook who served the porridge. The server, observing his pitiful appearance, served him a second ladleful. This was quite special “consideration.” Thanks to the massive military spending recently approved by the president, even the watery soup distributed by charity organizations had to be greatly reduced.

   The man was so sad that he hung his head. The man had suffered amnesia, and until a few days ago he did not even know that he could have done something good for the unemployed and homeless people gathered here. This man was the real Bush. Bush, the President of the United States, who was abandoned by everyone in the world...

Mafia

The bad guys behind the abduction plot are repeatedly described as "mafia" [마피아조직], but this does not seem to refer to the American mafia. Rather, it is implied that their organization is based somewhere in the Middle East. Bizarrely, they are in league with the Carnegie Endowment [카네기기금], where Jefferson is a senior fellow. (The Carnegie Endowment was also randomly implicated in the secret plot in Raise Your Bayonets with the CIA and candidate Bob Dole, but there it was misspelled 카네디기금). 

In his dramatic courtroom confession, Jefferson reveals that the head of their organization, a man named "Kent," is Middle-Eastern, as is Paul. At first I suspected this was intended to depict some Israeli agency, possibly the Mossad. Antisemitic conspiracy theories sometimes find their way into North Korean novels.

But then Jefferson clarifies that Kent's real name is Muhammed al-Hid. Asked if their group has ties to Al Qaeda, Jefferson says he does not know, but "cannot rule out the possibility." Jefferson himself is unsure of the true objective of the kidnapping plot, but he theorizes that as a Middle Easterner, Kent would have wanted to reverse "the hard-line, high-pressure stance of President Bush and other politicians toward the Islamic world."

During Fake Bush/Paul's brief tenure, Rice becomes suspicious at one point when he unexpectedly vetoes some bills related to the Iraq War. As she gapes incredulously, the fake president explains: "Rice, I want to stop the military build-up against Iraq and launch a strong military attack against North Korea. If we overthrow North Korea, our great enemy, won't the countries that have disrespected us become more obedient?"

This is the only mention of North Korea in the story, and it raises more questions than answers about the intended message of this tale. Other KWU novels have consistently pushed the notion that the US wars in the Middle East were always intended as a sly way to justify military buildup and move troops and hardware into place for an ultimate end-goal of invading North Korea. This story, admittedly by a much lower-ranked author, suggests instead that Bush's invasion of Iraq actually diverted resources away from North Korea, and then it was up to these mysterious Middle-Easterners to steer the focus of US defense strategy back onto North Korea.

Condoleezza Rice herself is no dove, but she vehemently opposes this shift, thinking: "North Korea was different from Iraq. A misstep with North Korea would not just seal the president's fate, but could spell the end of the entire US. Were it not so, Rice herself, the advocate of the 'strong policy,' would not have approved those documents..."

Condoleezza Rice

Bush's National Security Advisor has many entertaining scenes. She seems to act as a power-behind-the-throne and sometimes baby-sitter to the infantile President Bush, "overflowing with pride in herself as the real power of that great nation called the United States and always ridiculing Bush’s low intellect." She is repeatedly described as a "nyŏgŏl" which is an old Korean term for a female warrior. 

Privately in their Oval Office meeting, the president compliments her, "People wonder why my special adviser is a woman, but in reality, Rice, you are a nyŏgŏl who handles 80% – no, all – of my presidential work."

When the false Bush makes some uncharacteristically clever repartee, his wife Laura teases, "Who knew that our President has such an extraordinary sense of humor? I thought you were this great statesman who couldn't say one proper word without Rice."

The text oddly identifies Rice as "혼혈" (mixed-race) rather than black. Physically she is depicted as having a military bearing and "thick, utterly unfeminine lips." When she comes straight from the attack on the Colorado compound, still in her special forces uniform, the false Bush compliments her: "Rice, military garb suits you." 

North Korea has no equivalent of a civilian national security official. They would perhaps thinks of this as equivalent to their Minister of State Security (보위부, the "secret police"), who is always a high-ranking military officer and always appears in uniform with a chest full of medals.

Former Minister of State Security Kim Won Hong, 
who was dismissed in Feb 2017 (src: KCNA/Reuters)

First Family 

North Korean media must have covered some of the more tabloid-esque stories of the Bush era; the story mentions Jenna Bush's underaged drinking scandal and the time President Bush passed out choking on a "beer cracker." But some things have apparently been lost in translation; for instance, Jenna's sister Barbara's name is repeatedly mis-rendered in Korean as "Bamara" [바마라]. 

Korean language runs into a problem when dealing with twins, because relative age matters in deciding which terms to use. There's no good word for just "sister" independent of age. Usually the one born first will be referred to as "elder sister" and "eldest daughter," etc. In this story, the author seems to have decided that Jenna was born first, but I'm not sure if that is accurate.

Laura Bush is for some reason depicted as a man-hungry bimbo. She preens when W. suggests she enter the Mexican beauty contest. At the trial, she panics at talk of using DNA samples, suspecting her twins might have had a different father. 

For various selfish reasons, the Bush women are not particularly motivated to identify the real Bush at trial. The twins just hope that "the generous man who had given them so much money at the presidential villa" will be their father from now on. Laura just hopes to avoid "criticism that she couldn't even recognize her husband." 

We have seen First Daughters depicted as spoiled princesses before. This seems to be part of the general directive to emasculate and humble the US president, by showing that even his own family has little respect for him beyond the money and glamour his position provides. The depiction of a First Lady as a woman of loose morals is a new one, at least to my knowledge. It is more likely to be a product of this particular author's sense of humor than any top-down directive.

Fate (#3): A small North Korean child averts diplomatic disaster with Fidel Castro

In honor of the North Korean diplomat whose defection from the Cuban embassy was recently reported in Chosun Ilbo, as well as Cuba's diplomatic recognition of South Korea this year, I thought I'd revisit some scenes from a novel that depicted a fictional North Korean ambassador to Cuba in the late 1960s.

Fidel Castro and Kim Il Sung both loved a
good photo op with children

The novel is Fate (2012) by perennial blog favorite Chŏng Ki Jong, previously excerpted here and here.

A major character in this novel is Jang Jŏng Hwan, a decorated veteran who fought against the Japanese as a partisan in Manchuria and later worked at Panmunjom as a senior KPA negotiator. At the novel's start, he is a high-ranking official in the People's Security Department (민족보위성), the equivalent of a police commissioner. He has a much younger brother-in-law working in the Ministry of Trade, a Soviet-educated technocrat who makes trouble by advocating integration with Comecon – but that is another story. 

Mid-way through the novel, Jang is blindsided when Kim Il Sung unexpectedly appoints him, an old soldier with no diplomatic experience, as the new ambassador to Cuba. "You shouldn't be surprised," Kim tells him. "Since the crisis in the Caribbean [i.e. the Cuban missile crisis], many embassies of other countries stationed in Cuba closed their doors and evacuated by boat or plane, but our Korean embassy alone remained in place. Not only that, but everyone grabbed their guns and prepared to fight alongside the Cubans in the decisive battle. You have no idea how much the Cubans appreciate us since then. Koreans are the true comrades-in-arms who fight shoulder-to-shoulder with Cuba. Also, [the current ambassador]'s health deteriorated suddenly, and he had to be called back. So I've decided to send you. Think about how pleased they will be when we send our seasoned veteran, one who went nose-to-nose with the Americans at Panmunjom, as ambassador. It will be a great encouragement to their struggle."

The DPRK Embassy in Havana

A few chapters later, we catch up with Jang working in his new office at the DPRK embassy on the Malecon in Havana, Cuba. The Great Leader has spared no expense to support their young ally, but it means a lot of extra work for the embassy. 

Bearing up under the unfamiliar muggy heat, Jang pores over paperwork for importing "dozens of cars, tractors and countless agricultural machines from the Motherland," as well as North Korean youth brigades coming over to improve Cuba's agricultural production. There's more talk of how North Korea alone remained as Cuba's faithful partner, while all the other cowardly socialist nations ran away at the first sign of trouble from the US.

From outside, Jang hears his five-year-old son Hyŏn Il chattering loudly in Spanish with someone in the front garden. Jang himself has not learned much Spanish yet, but young Hyŏn Il immediately soaked it up like a sponge at his Cuban kindergarten.

Hyŏn Il is riding his bicycle around the yard when a stranger enters the compound in Cuban uniform, introducing himself as “Fidel’s adjutant” to the skeptical boy. Hyŏn Il does not know exactly who Fidel is, but he remembers a bit of a song they sang in kindergarten: 

    I love morning, I love today
    I love tomorrow, I love Fidel

Still suspicious, Hyŏn Il asks, “But if you’re here, where’s Fidel?”

Fidel Castro with Che Guevara and
his daugher Aleida in 1963

In short order Fidel arrives and rescues his adjutant from this young interrogator. Hyŏn Il fetches his father, and Fidel and Jang shake hands warmly. But the official interpreter is not around, and neither understands the other's language. They attempt some bilingual banter anyway:

   “Ambassador, it's been a while. Are you getting used to the Cuban weather? How is your health?”

  “Ah, Comrade Prime Minister. Seeing you here so suddenly, there must be some urgent business...”
  “Ambassador, I said, are you getting used to the weather?”
   It was such a pity. 

   At that moment Hyŏn Il, who had been sitting astride his bicycle tilting his head back to watch them, spoke up.

   “Dad, say it's hot, but not too bad.”
   Jang looked surprised. What was the kid saying? But the next moment, he sighed in relief. “Oh right, you know how to do greetings, huh? Then, please give a nice greeting to Prime Minister Fidel for me, okay?”
   “Okay.” Hyŏn Il nodded, then turned to Fidel and stuttered, “My father has very good for Fidel, um… yummy food give you.”
   Greatly impressed by young Hyŏn Il’s bold and inventive Spanish, Fidel scooped him up in his arms.
   “How brave you are. What is your name?”
   “Jang Hyŏn Il. I’m the strongest one in our kindergarten.”
   “Really?”
   “Yes. I'm the shortest, but the best fighter.”
   “Hah! A general’s son for sure.”

Interpretation secured, they all go inside to chat some more. Fidel holds Hyŏn Il on his lap and the lad tugs playfully on his sideburns. The author is clearly having fun with the device of a diplomatic meeting interpreted by a five-year-old:

   “Ambassador, there’s something I’d like to ask you privately, and that is why I came without telling anyone.”
   Jang looked a question at young Hyŏn Il. Rolling his eyes, the boy thought for a moment and interpreted: “Came alone! Secret!”
   “Oh, is that so?”

   Then Jang realized what he must do. “Comrade Prime Minister, wait a moment!” He pulled out the phone and dialed a number. “Jang Jŏng Hwan here. Where is the cultural attaché? Find him right away and send him to my office. Then contact Comrade Raul Castro and let him know that Prime Minister Fidel is here.” Fidel had come without informing anyone, but when the head of state visited the embassy, Jang Jŏng Hwan could not just let it pass without informing the host country.

   Fidel asked young Hyŏn Il what his father was saying. Hyŏn Il interpreted, “He say tell Comrade Castro, Fidel is here.”

   Fidel, who had been in the middle of lighting a thick reddish Havana cigar, suddenly threw his head back and burst into laughter.

   “Wait, how can Castro and Fidel be different people? Isn’t that just one person?”

   Hyŏn Il was getting frustrated but held firm. “No, there is Raul and then there is Fidel…”

   “Aha– That’s right. You speak the truth.”

Meanwhile, the embassy staff were busying themselves preparing a meal for the unexpected guest. Five minutes later, the cultural attache/interpreter arrives, along with a female embassy staff member carrying tea and coffee. Hyŏn Il slips away.

After the official interpreter arrives, Fidel gets down to business. He tells Jang that he has come in hopes of "getting to know Korea better," and in particular he wishes to view some of Korean propaganda films, whose quality he has heard much about. 

They set up an impromptu film screening in the embassy garden, where the staff have set out a variety of Korean foods. Fidel watches enthralled, sucking on a cigar, never taking his eyes off the screen. The movies continue until 3am. Fidel has high praise for the North Korean cinematic arts: "I’d always wondered when I would finally be able to meet Comrade Kim Il-sung, but today I have met him through these documentary films."

When they finally get up to leave, Fidel looks around confused, wondering where "Heniel" has gone. Figuring out what he means, Jang tells him the boy has long since gone to bed. Fidel laughs and asks them to give his regards to "dear Heniel" when he awakes. 

Fidel and KIS finally met in 1986

Before leaving, Fidel pulls Jang and the interpreter aside for a private word. This is the scene where he shares the secret of Che Guevara's whereabouts. He also passes along a personal letter Che left behind, saying: "Comrade Kim Il Sung is the person Che respects the most. I think it is right to show him this letter. If Che were here, he would probably agree wholeheartedly.”

Hyŏn Il makes no further appearances in the novel, but Fidel remembers "Heniel" fondly and keeps asking Jang to bring him out as an interpreter.

Links

Though the significance of their contribution is greatly exaggerated in this novel, North Korea did send  a 100-man work brigade to Cuba in 1970 to help with agricultural labor. This article explains how the "Jinetes de Chullima" or "Chollima riders," as they were called, were part of a program of economic and cultural outreach toward Cuba that North Korea pursued in the 1960s. In the novel, rather than just agricultural workers, North Korea sends an elite team of engineers to help build a heavy machine industry in Cuba.

Radiation in North Korean Literature

Recently, a paper of mine was included in an edited volume based on a 2022 conference at KIMEP University.

My contribution, chapter 5, examined at how North Korean novels and other state literature depict nuclear technology. One of the questions I was particularly keen to investigate was cultural depictions of nuclear radiation. Western popular culture provides such a lavish cornucopia of cultural references associated with radiation, from Godzilla to Spiderman, not to mention real-life accounts of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Chernobyl, Fukushima, etc. With such cultural exposure, we may erroneously assume that everyone feels the same instinctive horror associated with the word "nuclear."

In North Korean historical novels, there is a fair amount of coverage of the geopolitics of the Hiroshima bombing, the subsequent nuclear tests by the USSR and China, the NPT and the various test ban treaties, and lots of allusions to a "sea of fire." But I found very little description of what nuclear radiation actually does to human bodies, and nothing about radioactive fallout, keloids, cancers, and other long-term health and environmental effects. And of course, nothing about the lasting hazards at sites of nuclear testing or nuclear reactor accidents.

Searching my database of North Korean literature (currently comprising 70 major historical novels and thousands of shorter stories, essays and poems), I was able to find eight entries that mention radiation [search terms: 방사선, 방사능, 방사성]:

The 2016 short story 《광명성-30》호에서 날아온 전파, covered previously on this blog, makes passing mention of the danger to astronauts from solar radiation (not a major plot point).

The novel 대박산마루 (2010) by Song Sang Won mentions radiocarbon [방사선탄소] amidst a detailed technical discussion of carbon dating procedures performed on remains found in Tangun's tomb.

The novel 동해천리 (1996) by Paek Nam Nyong mentions radium in a brief discussion of Marie Curie's life; Paek seems to have a special fascination with Curie and mentions her in several novels.

The novel 총검을 들고 (2002) depicts the US military dropping irradiated foodstuffs on NK during the 1990s famine, along with an irradiated baby dropped by parachute (a nefarious tactic "preying on the compassion" of North Koreans "who will naturally run to help the baby and thus be poisoned"). Later in this same novel there is an intriguing depiction of soldiers heroically sacrificing themselves to finish constructing a tunnel at Kumgangsan Dam after a cave-in causes a radioactive gas leak - presumably radon. A "chemicals car" [화학차] is sent in to test the air and finds radiation "above the danger level," at which point Kim Jong Il personally supplies the workers with special gas suits [특수방독복] and gas masks [방독면], but several men are already fatally exposed.

The story "푸른 강산" (2014), Paek Bo Hŭm's contribution to the first anthology of stories featuring new leader Kim Jong Un, focuses on environmental issues, chiefly the effort to restore North Korea's depleted forests. Early on it points the finger at global capitalism: "Botanists of the world! Never forget that the US imperialists, who killed countless lives with atomic bombs and polluted the earth's air with radioactive poisons [방사능독해물], also sprayed chemicals that shriveled the trees in jungles during the Vietnam War. Even now, grass does not grow there." The reference to "radioactive poisons" in the air may be a reference to the "black rain" phenomenon immediately after the bombings, or it could perhaps be a reference to atmospheric radiation from the Bikini atoll tests, but this is unclear.

KJU inspecting an alleged h-bomb
(src: The New York Times)

The novel 영생(1997) dramatizes the events of the first nuclear crisis in 1994. At one point, the issue of replacing the plutonium core of the reactor is described in some detail (this procedure was overdue, the IAEA had objected to replacing fuel rods without its inspectors present). Discussing the problem with members of the National Defense Commission, Kim Il Sung asks what would happen if they do not replace the core on schedule, and Kim Jong Il answers tersely that it could lead to an "accident." The following text is revealing:

   At that moment, the NDC members all held their breath, recalling the serious implication of the simple term "accident." If the reactor core is not replaced, radiation will be emitted, potentially repeating the Chernobyl disaster which once shook Europe, and the nuclear power industry built by our own self-reliance could be blown into the sky overnight. 

This is the only literary reference I could find explicitly associating the idea of harmful radiation with a nuclear reactor. It probably should be noted that the above comes nowhere close to describing the actual cause of the Chernobyl disaster. More to the point, though, the passage does not explore the more serious peninsula-wide environmental and health problems that would inevitably result from such a disaster, but only the damage to North Korea's nuclear power industry.

선생님 믿으십시오, a short story by Ri Myŏng Hyŏn from Chosun Munhak in March 2014, mentions radiation in discussing mutations of experimental seedlings in plant genetics research [식물육종학]. 

그대의 심장, a 실화 ("true anecdote") that appeared in Choson Munhak May 2006, very briefly mentions radiation therapy as effective in relieving stress caused by computer use.

The novel Ryŏksa ŭi Taeha makes brief mention of the "Atom Bomb Disease" [원폭증] suffered by the victims of Hiroshima, but does not specifically reference radiation as the cause and thus did not pop up in my search. This occurs during a rumination by Moon Sung-kyu (pseudonym for Kang Sok-ju) on the stakes of the nuclear issue. Through his thoughts, we get an unusually vivid description of the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing:

   August 6th, 1945, 8:15 am; An atomic bomb of unprecedented destructive and lethal power exploded in Hiroshima. The world soon learned of the horrors of that terrible day. 

   What happened in that city? .. At first the survivors could not properly tell the whole story of what had happened. Those who could have done so were all dead. For the living, their senses were initially dulled by shock, fear, death, and devastation; some said “There was a huge flash of light,” or “my eyes were dazzled,” or “a sudden yellow light flashed and seemed to shatter everything.”

   Anyway, some sort of detonation happened that flashed in mid-air. The next instant, the whole city shook as if an earthquake struck, trembling and undulating in a roar of thunder. At the same time an impossible dusk settled over the city that soon turned to complete darkness. A strangely electric gas permeated the air, and there was a foul odor. No one knew yet that it was the smell of death.

   Some days later, before the funeral bells had even ceased, reports confirmed 100,000 dead or missing and 50,000 injured, out of a total city population of 200,000 at the time of the explosion. But even this terrible disaster was still only the beginning. Tens of thousands of people who contracted “atomic bomb syndrome” [원폭증] died one after another, beginning just days or a few weeks later. This road of death continued for many years.

The 2017 novel Boru includes an evocative moment in which MacArthur, from his GHQ office, looks out over the gloomy streets of postwar Tokyo: "The fog, brought on by atmospheric flow and temperature difference, aroused uneasy thoughts of the atomic dust flowing over from Hiroshima and Nagasaki" [히로시마와 나가사끼에서 실려온 원자먼지가 아닌가싶은 께름함]. Here again, the text avoids using the term "radiation" or anything that might be associated with nuclear power.

The Fukushima #1 reactor explosion was caused by
 a power supply failure (Src: PolarJournal)

I have not found any literary references to radiation sickness in the context of industrial nuclear accidents in North Korean literary publications. A search of Rodong Shinmun articles on the externally-facing KCNA website is more fruitful: numerous posted articles and editorials have discussed radioactive waste [핵오물, 방사능오염] in the context of the Fukushima accident and cleanup. Apparently the chance at a new way to demonize the modern Japanese state was too good to pass up.

Why does it matter? Maybe it doesn't. But in my past research on atom bomb history, one of the most chilling moments for me was reading the declassified strategic discussions prior to the Hiroshima bombing and realizing how little the US military seemed to comprehend the terrifying elemental forces they were about to unleash. In 1945, with no cultural framing, most of them seemed to envision the A-bomb as just a conventional bomb on a larger scale. They talked only in terms of blast radius and equivalent tons of TNT, with not a word about fallout or radioactive decay rates. 

In the US, growing awareness of the dangers of nuclear radiation, painfully gained through a too-long list of accidents and exposures, eventually led the public to demand a moratorium on nuclear testing and heavy regulation of the nuclear power industry - and our test sites, like the Soviet Union's, were all far out in the unpopulated hinterland or obscure Pacific atolls (which still had horrific consequences for people hundreds of kilometers downwind). North Korea has no choice but to test and store its bombs within its own small territory, a few hundred kilometers from its capital city.

The evacuated atolls of Rongelap and Rongerik, 160 and 240
km from ground zero respectively, were exposed to airborne
radioactive fallout from American h-bomb tests in 1954. The
native population briefly returned in 1957 but had to be
re-evacuated after suffering extremely high rates of stillbirths
and cancers. The atolls remain uninhabited today.

Not even the US mainland population has been entirely safe. The American public has only recently come to learn just how close to disaster we came in several instances during the Cold War, e.g.  the Arkansas Titan II missile accident and the Goldsboro B-52 crash. If all of the US military's vaunted redundancies and safety protocols could prove so inadequate, what hope is there for North Korea? And if a fully modern facility like Fukushima Dai-ichi could be undone by an unforeseen flaw in the backup power generator system, what are the odds of a plant operating safely in North Korea, where the basic civilian power supply is spotty even on a good day?

My former foster cat Mametaro, 
shortly after he was rescued from
the Fukushima exclusion zone in 2019. 
Mametaro is now fat and happy and
living his best life in Tokyo. 

A possible alternative avenue for informing North Koreans may come through Japan's outreach to the Korean victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki who later repatriated to the North, and the doctors who treat them. Very little was known about these victims until Japan sent a delegation of medical doctors on a mission to offer treatment in the early 2000s. In recent years, activists like photojournalist Takashi Ito have brought more attention to this neglected group. Lauren Richardson recently published an article in Pacific Affairs about such efforts, which I recommend reading.

Fate (#2): Kissinger and the EC-121 Incident

Following the recent death of Henry Kissinger, NK News has a timely piece on the controversial American diplomat's reaction to the 1969 EC-121 incident, one of his first major tests in his role as Nixon's NSA.

It reminded me that Kissinger makes a cameo discussing that very incident in the novel Fate, a relatively recent addition to the Imperishable History series published in 2012. This is the same novel that featured KIS' interaction with Che Guevara, which I previously covered on this blog. 

The scene opens with a favorite trope: the US president being awoken early in the morning (6:57 AM, to be exact) with news of a crisis brought on by North Korea. The same author had previously used this same device in Ryŏksa ŭi Taeha to depict Clinton being awoken from a happy dream of his Arkansas childhood to the bedside phone ringing and the news that NK just announced its intention to withdraw from the NPT.  The 2015 novel Dignity, by a different author but in the same series, has President Johnson being awoken from a more prurient dream about groping his mistress to news of the USS Pueblo's capture. 

"Bad news, boss."

I suspect this trope is intended to mock the US leader as groggy/off balance, particularly in comparison to the North Korean leader who is always depicted working late into the night and rising early in the morning. But it also has the benefit of probably being often historically accurate, given the time difference and the time of day when most NK-related crises tend to happen.

No word this time on what Nixon was dreaming about; the president just answers grumpily:

   “What now? The Soviet Union or China?”

   “Neither, Mr. President.” It was Kissinger, the special adviser for national security. “It’s North Korea. We have just received a report that the reconnaissance aircraft EC-121, with 31 crew members, was shot down by North Korean fighter jets in the Korean East Sea.” 

   “Shot down? One of ours?

   “Yes, Mr. President.”

   “North Korea again?”

   “Yes, Mr. President.”

   Nixon froze, gripping receiver tightly. The EC-121 was a four-propeller reconnaissance aircraft of the US Navy. It was the latest large-scale reconnaissance aircraft, with a mass of more than 60 tons, a range of more than 7000 km, and a 24-hour flight time. It had launched from Yokota Base in Japan with an important mission to reconnoiter military movements in northeast China and the Far East of the Soviet Union, with a focus on North Korea. It had flown similar missions tens or hundreds of times in the past, but the Soviet Union had never summoned the courage [용단] to shoot it down.

   Nixon pursed his lips. He had no intention of following in the footsteps of the previous president, Johnson, who stepped down after last year’s "Pueblo" scandal gave him the reputation of most incompetent president ever... 

So thinking, Nixon immediately orders a bristling array of military hardware into the region. These are listed in detail: four aircraft carrier groups ("one more than was mustered for last year's Pueblo incident") and their escorts, as well as "hundreds" of fighter jets and bombers put into readiness at US bases in South Korea and Guam. 

Nixon's NSC in 1969
(Src: Bettmann/Corbis)

The National Security Council meeting the following day is also depicted. Nixon begins: "Today, we must discuss how to deal with communist North Korea’s reckless and grave provocation – that is, how to inflict an unprecedented retaliatory blow against North Korea, which intentionally damaged the honor of the United States of America and sacrificed 31 Americans."

Defense Secretary Laird is first to respond and also the most bloodthirsty, proposing to "strike 12 important points in North Korea with nuclear weapons, and then destroy all airfields in North Korea with more destructive nuclear weapons to annihilate their air power."

The State Department and the CIA oppose such a massive retaliation. They argue that "the US, currently suffering from the Vietnam War, did not have the strength to launch such a large-scale military action, and it would not get any popular support but would only give the hardline leadership of North Korea an opportunity to wage all-out war and take over South Korea." There is no discussion of whether such a move would violate international law or US treaty commitments such as the recently-signed NPT; even the diplomats seem only constrained by their weakened position and cowardly fear of North Korea's reaction.

Amid this discussion, they get the report that partial wreckage and two bodies have been recovered, along with an urgent telegram from ROK Ambassador William Porter urging no retaliation against North Korea. Porter's telegram argues that "North Korea had completed preparations for an all-out war since last year's Pueblo incident and was waiting only for the right moment for national reunification." 

Buoyed by this support, Secretary of State Rogers offers his own proposal: to save face by continuing  EC-121 reconnaissance flights with fighter jet escorts. Nixon considers this to be "a truly fragile plan to restore America's lost prestige" and "not even worth discussing." 

Src: Boston Globe

Finally Kissinger speaks up:

   “Mr. President, never forget this, that the Soviet Union, North Vietnam and China are watching us right now.”

   “It’s not just those countries. The whole world is watching us now, comparing us with the Johnson administration...” These words came from the Secretary of Defense.

   Nixon clenched his fists for the third time. “Then, Kissinger, tell us your idea.”

   “I propose retaliation, strong retaliation.”  Kissinger spoke rapidly without hesitation, as if reciting foreign language homework. “Only strong physical countermeasures can show off the confidence of the US at home and abroad, boost the morale of its allies, and dampen the courage of the radical North Korean leadership.”

   "Hmm…” Nixon was of the same opinion. However, he had more arithmetic and pragmatic calculations in mind than Kissinger, a scholar born to a Jewish family that fled to the US to avoid Hitler's extermination of Jews in Germany. In the event of a retaliatory strike, [Nixon] was concerned about what consequences it would bring to him, who had just ascended to the presidency.

   The meeting continued until late at night...

Thus, the thing that ended up happening in real life – continuing to run recon flights but with escorts – is shown being mocked and dismissed by the president as an unthinkably cowardly choice, before he backs down and goes with it. Kissinger as NSA is shown urging "strong retaliation" but does not actually mention a nuclear strike, as the SecDef does. Positioning Kissinger as the final and most forceful speaker makes him seem like the most capable person in the room, although if you pay attention, his words lack any detail and could be interpreted in multiple ways. 

Writing this scene in 2012, the author would be aware that Kissinger's reputation has not aged well in the eyes of the world. He's just the sort of low-hanging fruit that a North Korean novelist would typically put in an exaggerated mustache-twirling villain role. Thus it is interesting that he seems to get the most respectful treatment of all the players in the scene. He is too hawkish to be a real "good guy," but he at least seems to have his head on straight, and the biographical detail about him escaping the Holocaust seems to lend a more sympathetic motivation to his hawkishness.

Although Kissinger had a lifelong adversarial relationship to North Korea, they did have one noteworthy thing in common - they both wanted the 1968 Paris Peace Talks to fail, and for purely self-serving reasons. In that respect, I suppose one could argue that Kissinger did North Korea a solid. Perhaps this is their belated way of saying thanks?

Src: Nixon Foundation

Nixon did in fact convene an emergency NSC meeting that day to discuss the incident; the actual discussion can be found summarized here. In the summary neither Kissinger nor Laird come off sounding particularly hawkish. Nobody seems to have said anything about nukes, although the NK News article notes that "The incident did prompt the Nixon administration to consider contingency plans for future incidents with North Korea" including nuclear strikes on NK airfields.  It must be mentioned that some sources claim that Nixon did initially order a nuclear strike on North Korea as a knee-jerk reaction under the influence of rage and alcohol, and that Henry Kissinger was the one who talked him down.

The novel also briefly depicts KIS getting the news about the EC-121 downing – on his birthday, no less. KIS inquires about the name of the pilot who fired the shot, and it turns out to be one of the story's lead fictional characters, a young KPA fighter pilot who also appeared in earlier scenes dogfighting with the USAF in Vietnam. 

Separately, leader-in-training Kim Jong Il shares the news with ailing Vice-President Kim Il, another major character in this novel, who at the time is bedridden recovering from major surgery. "Comrade Kim Il," KJI soothes, "everything is going well, so why are you fretting? Smile. The Great Leader has performed his own 'major surgery' with the shooting down of the EC-121 spy plane that you were so worried about, so do not worry anymore." He then shares the text of Nixon's press statement announcing no retaliation, and the two men joke that "under the giant mountain was just one tiny mouse" (태산명동에 서일필, from the Chinese idiom 泰山鳴動 鼠一匹).