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| "You first." (Src: CNN) |
Guerrilla comrades get slappy
"Yes, let’s."
Comrade Kim Il Sung drank without hesitation.
Zhou Baozhong gulped down his own cup in one breath. Then he rubbed the back of his nose with his thumb and index finger and began sniffing those fingers. It seemed that he had picked up the Russians’ bizarre habit of drinking strong liquor without snacks [안주없이 강술을 마시는 로씨야사람들의 괴이한 습관을 그도 본받은 모양이였다].
"Please, have some more…"
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| Zhou and KIS with comrades of the 88th Brigade, circa 1942 (Src: WSJ) |
"Hmmph!" Zhou gave no response except to snort. He drank half a cup (actually more like half a bottle) of strong liquor and sat motionless. The mood of the other Chinese in the camp had been jubilant, but Zhou looked pale and kept to himself. And now, he sat before Comrade Kim Il Sung acting like a volatile drill-sergeant....
Cold War fraternizing
In Eternal Life (1997), there is a drinking scene during the final banquet concluding the 1994 Carter summit. Kim Il Sung offers Jimmy Carter some Kŭmchŏngju (a Korean sake-like drink served hot). Carter says that reminds him of a story:
“Are you really such a strong drinker?” Comrade Kim Il Sung looked surprised.
“No, the secret was in my cup. I had a special cup that was the same shape and size as Brezhnev’s, but neutralized the alcohol each time it was filled. Drinking like that, Brezhnev said all sorts of things he shouldn’t have. I learned much of his true feelings that way, and quite a few Soviet secrets as well.” ...
Comrade Kim Il Sung joked, “Mr. Carter, there may be a trick in these cups as well. Better be careful.”
“I think you’ve already gotten me drunk somehow. Else why would I tell you that secret from Geneva?”
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| Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev feeling tipsy in Vienna. Src: Getty Images |
This is likely either a misunderstanding or a creative reinterpretation of a story related in Jimmy Carter's memoir, Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President, published in 1982, in the chapter on the SALT III talks in Vienna:
Carter's memoir makes no mention of extracting any valuable secrets or confessions from Brezhnev on that occasion; rather, aides recalled being concerned that Brezhnev might manipulate the teetotaling Carter into a more malleable frame of mind through alcohol. But it's possible that the North Korean author was working with a different version of the same story from the Russian side.
Reporter outdrinks his source/censor
Fine wine sets the scene for a subtle battle of wits in the novel Blue Skies (1992), set in Seoul under the Fifth Republic dictatorship. The plot revolves around North Korea's donation of flood relief supplies to South Korea in 1984 - an act of generosity that they doubtless expected would be rebuffed as usual by the proud ROK government, and that struck a heavy blow to the North's already tenuous financial liquidity, although of course that is not mentioned in the novel.
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| Flood damage reporting in Kyŏnghyang Shinmun, 3 Sept 1984 Src: Naver Newslibrary |
The main protagonist is Han Young-guk, a veteran reporter for Dong-a Ilbo who reports on both the flooding and the NK relief deliveries, using his superior wit and literary references to slip his subversive reporting past the eyes of the dictatorship's troglodite censors. Han shares a tense symbiotic relationship with Lee Byŏng-chan, an officer in the Ministry of State Security responsible for devising the Press Guidelines - sort of like daily talking points that the Chun regime issued to control the media narrative. In the scene below, Lee has asked Han to join him for dinner "just to chat" – leaving Han immediately suspicious and wondering which of his recent articles has gotten him in trouble.
Baring his white, plump arms, Lee Byŏng-chan treated Han Young-guk with refined manners and courtesy as always. In terms of personality and knowledge, Lee Byung-chan's existence seemed an insignificant object in gray-haired Han’s eyes, but considered in terms of power, he was always a fearsome presence that gave Han goosebumps over his whole body.
With a tone that said: Who cares if you don’t serve the wine after clear liquor as in Western-style drinking, Han Young-guk chided Lee Byung-chan for his quirky attempt at showing off: “However fine this wine may be, I'd like it better if you'd just get down to business already.”
“Business? Ha ha ha, that’s so you...”
[Lee insists he just wants to chat, Han says I don’t believe you]
Lee knew he was no match for Han at eloquent speech. That's why alcohol was needed. Deducing his inner turmoil as usual, Han casually raised his glass and drank. It felt like an icicle trickling down from his throat to the pit of his stomach. But he didn’t reach for the snacks. The effect of alcohol would be greater on an empty stomach.
“News?"
“That’s right. You must have heard the report that the North is offering to send relief supplies, right?”
“Ah, that!” Han nodded lightly and smiled as if the news was insignificant, then lifted his full glass of wine and drank it down. A mischievous smile crossed Lee's thin lips.
“What about it?” Han set down his empty glass and gently wiped around his mouth. “Are you going to ask me to make up [a narrative] that we don’t need the supplies?”
It was a slightly challenging question. After a couple of drinks, he unconsciously got more ballsy [저도 몰래 담이 커졌다]. Feeling depressed lately, Han found it harder not to vent the resentment in his heart. But he never crossed the line. He know very well what lay behind the smile of the guy sitting across from him talking of “kindness” and “a favor”.
"No. Han, you’re always so impatient.” Cooling his agitation in this way, Lee continued with that sly smile that seemed to draw out a person's soul. “This time, we’re going to issue a statement that we will accept the North Korean relief supplies.”
“What, really?!” Han sat up, perking his ears.
“It's true. It'll probably go out on the morning news tomorrow. Then the whole world will surely be astonished like you are now.”
Han was shaken. This was an amazing scoop that would cause a sensation in the news world. But underneath his excitement he felt his sharp sense of caution relentlessly constrain the bounds of his emotions. He couldn't figure out why Lee would secretly inform him first about this important incident that the authorities had not yet announced. He struggled to suppress the excitement boiling inside him and shook his head with willful calm.
“I don’t know. I can't believe it at all.”
“It’s true. I too was unsure at first, but this is an undeniable fact. On September 8th, North Korea announced that it would send 50,000 sacks of rice, 500,000 m of cloth, 100,000 tons of cement, and medicines as relief supplies. Those amounts are considerable.”
“An empty shell?”
“They’re trying to launch a propaganda offensive with nothing to give. So that when we don't accept it, they're going to criticize us to the world, saying 'Look, there is no brotherly love, no humanitarianism, no care for the people'. This is a cunning trick of the communists in 'North Korea'.”
The conversation continues in this way, with Lee attempting to throw Han off his game with drink and flattery, seemingly unaware that the veteran reporter is basically immune to both. In a flashback, we get a sympathetic glimpse of Lee's point of view: he has been under extreme pressure from higher-ups in the Ministry to get his pet reporter on a tighter leash. He is also insecure about his own mediocre education and thus uses alcohol as a crutch to feel more at ease with Han, his senior and intellectual superior.
Because this is a conversation between two South Korean characters, they use the South Korean words for North Korea (북한) and South Korea (한국) throughout, although always in scare quotes.
Useful drinking vocabulary:
