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.