Back, Back, Back in the DPRK!

 “Friend - A Novel from North Korea,” by Paek Nam-Nyong, 2020 Eng. Trans. / 1988

The author is one of the top authors in north Korea – a member of the Writers’ Union and the elite April 15^th Literary Production Unit.  Prior to this he worked in a steel factory for many years before enrolling in University.  This book presents a picture of the country totally at odds with the U.S. portrayal of a poverty-stricken dictatorship – the “Hermit Kingdom.”  Instead it is an apolitical, soapy story of love, divorce, psychology and inter-personal conflict.  This is revealed when the judge, as a student, writes a thesis on marriage based on materialism, looking at the role of marriage as a social form controlling inheritance of property.  Then he changed it to add psychological issues within marriage, because of input from his wife-to-be.  This might reflect why Nam-Nyong is so popular in north Korea … he deals with personal problems, which everyone has.

It is unknown what the role of censorship is here, but like many authors in the U.S., he censors himself, perhaps in the choosing and treatment of themes. In the Afterward, it is explained that the Writers' Union has guidelines to follow.  The political angles of several north Korean Party efforts are also reflected in the book.

It mostly involves two couples – a local judge and his agronomist wife from a small village; and a lathe operator and his wife, who is a famous singer.  There is also a 3rd couple - a coal miner and his teacher wife.  The marriages have inherent economic differences, being of different strata - blue and white collar.  The judge is irritated that his wife is always gone to her village, attempting and failing to grow vegetables in the high mountains.  The singer is irritated with her husband, who won’t try to be more ‘successful’ than a skilled factory hand.  The teacher is upset about her alcoholic husband. These differences are not directly addressed in the text as 'economic' differences, but they are there.  The judge must decide on a divorce between the singer and her husband by questioning them extensively.  But it also leads him to question his own relationship, which is souring.

Divorce is legal in north Korea, but it involves a decision from the legal system, with input from community and job leaders.  It is possible a divorce might not be granted.  The decision on who gets custody of any children – there is one young boy in this story – is also up to the judge.  Monogamy in marriage is endorsed as the most ethical solution.  Sexual relations outside marriage are never mentioned in this book, nor serial monogamy outside marriage. The family is seen as a unit of the nation, which itself is seen as a larger family. In a way this depiction of the ‘institution of marriage’ is worse than the U.S. situation back in the 1950s before no fault divorce, cohabitation, single parenting by both parents, gay relationships or ‘friends with benefits.’ 

The writing style is somewhat conventional, fastidious and stilted, with numerous and typical romantic flourishes about nature.  Sentimental uses of clichéd words like ‘soul’ and nobility are used.  There is only one reference to the Korean War, as one character lost his parents to U.S. bombs. The men are sometimes depicted as somewhat headstrong meat-heads, while the women are more demure – until they aren’t.  The women are workers, not only housewives – and sometimes not even that.  The judge had to raise his son mostly on his own and cares for his wife's vegetables in an apartment greenhouse when she’s gone.  There is a long chapter set in a factory based on a conversation with a factory manager about the divorce.  The story is not told in the manner of socialist realism, although there is praise of the Party, the nation and the collective. 

Nam-Nyong tells the story through the eyes of all four characters, and the fifth, the child.  The pain of losing a relationship after being together for years is the center of the narrative.  At the same time, divorce is frowned upon, as it is a 'rent in the social fabric' and affects people's work lives and productivity.  The latter is certainly true if you've gone through one.  The judge is a man of high rectitude and promotes 'Party directives' in solving this divorce issue.  In this book he functions almost like a social worker. The matter leads to the discovery of a crime of embezzlement by an official body against the lathe-operator.  The judge becomes intent on mending the marriage. 

Read the book to see if he succeeds.

Prior blog reviews on this subject, us blog search box, upper left, using these terms to investigate our 15 year archive:  “King of Spies – the Dark Reign of America’s Spymaster in Korea,” “The End of Free Speech for Sony Pictures, Seth Rogen and America!” “Parasite,” “The Grass – A Young Man’s Journey to the Korean War,” “Squid Game,” “The Vegetarian.”  

And I Bought It at May Day Books!   

The Cultural Marxist

April 27, 2022