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 freshly redeployed to 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.”

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.

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

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 include 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.

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. 

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.