'The Accusation' by Bandi

The Royal Asiatic Society Korea Branch recently moved its Reading Club meetings from the Jongno District Office's library in Susong-dong to gentrified Waryong-dong, and the quiet basement of North Terrace Building, a fancy book cafe with a stimulating editorial line, consistent with the club's focus on Korean literature in translation*.

On the menu yesterday: Bandi's 'The Accusation'...

'The Accusation: Forbidden Stories from Inside North Korea' by Bandi

... as translated by Deborah Smith, so footnote-free, and easy to read for Westerners who don't know much about Korea, let alone North Korea. 

Don't get me wrong: this easy-read is a must-read! Furthermore, I applaud the choice to spread Bandi's words as far as possible to help more people understand what living under the most oppressive and corrupt regime on Earth means.

I simply wish (and I'm not alone) the opportunity had been seized to make a few key concepts more widely known. For instance, why keep 'Bowibu' (State Security), but not use 'songbun' (DPRK's 'cast' system), which plays a much more important role all across the book? If it helps, picture the cover of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's 'Forced Labor Camp Archipelago'... anyway, it doesn't matter much, and certainly doesn't change the realities described in this brilliant fiction.

Written between 1989 and 1995, the manuscript could only be smuggled out of North Korea in 2013. And Bandi may never escape the land where you're not allowed to think out loud. The author's daily job, as an official writer, is to hammer the regime's doctrine and myths home through edifying fiction, but as an anonymous 'firefly' (the 'Bandi' pseudonym), she/he finds the courage to set her/himself free, and to expose its impostures by pulling the same tricks against it, delivering powerful insights far beyond the usual 'rare glimpses' into Pyongyang.

Actually, oppression can be felt even more acutely in small town Kimilsungistan, even on that remote field, high up in the mountain. The heroes? Simple people struggling to survive as decent family members and citizens in a dystopian system. The villains? The very ones supposed to lead as role models. Each one of Bandi's seven short stories respects the official moral fable topics and structures, but instead of teaching why the system is the answer, the climactic moment of revelation exposes why it is the mother of all problems.

While reading, I thought a lot about Song Byeok, that propaganda painter turned satirist artist after defecting to the South:

Song Byeok's 'Marilyn Monroe' has the face of movie fanatic Kim Jong-il

Except, of course, that Bandi's literature uses a far more subtle and diverse palette. Even through the biases of edition, translation, and that very special para-propaganda genre, I believe Bandi to be not only one unique person**, but also a true humanist, and a great author.

The editors cleverly dropped the manuscript's chronological order, starting 'The Accusation' with stories showing how trust can be a challenge even within the most intimate familial circle, and ending with 'The Red Mushroom', a masterpiece linking modern times to the grand Korean tales tradition, a farce and a tragedy, complete with a Kafkaian trial***, the Saint figure of a hero, and a narrator I suspect to be among the most autobiographical in the whole book: a disillusioned official scribbler compelled to serve the regime because he needs to survive, but also a compassionate soul marveling at how great humans can remain or become, even in this Pandemonium.

Frankly, I don't care if Bandi is 'Mr Bullshit Reporter' or 'Mrs Bullshit Writer'. I care that Bandi cares.

And so should we.


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* yet reaching far beyond - among my favorites:

'Sipping Waryong-dong coffee in a book lover's lair. Among the odd volumes, this 'Pictorial Chosen and Manchuria' (Bank of Chosen 1919) (20180627 - twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/1011933015843336193)

** some think there are various contributors, I presume because of the way Bandi convincingly carries male as well as female voices, or ventures into farce as easily as into tear-jerkers, but the risks would have been even more extreme, and the author's own 'voice' / vision remains consistent. 
*** not just K's. Because of KO Inshik's figure, that trial also brought memories of the one in Iain Pears' 'An Instance of the Fingerpost', which Bandi probably never had a chance to read.

Gwanghwamun, Donhwamun, and the Tale of two Royal Roads

Seoul is about to renovate the two streets leading to its main royal gates: Sejong-daero (Gwanghwamun, Gyeongbokgung's gate) and Donhwamun-ro (Donhwamun, Changdeokgung's gate). Needless to say, these are key locations, and authorities have to make sure that they do it right, and that to start with, there is a consistent and sustainable vision for Seoul's future.

*

In the case of Sejong-daero, the idea is to attach Gwanghwamun Square to the Western side, which somehow means a return to the initial plan of a wider area in front of the Sejong Cultural Center. The main motivation seems to be money: the massive foot traffic on the square would generate much more revenue there. Why not indeed? Let's see what it means when you consider the two most likely scenarii:

• If the plaza is extended westwards: 6 lanes of traffic will disappear, and I'm perfectly okay with that, but only if all impacts are taken into account, and I'm not sure that's the case. To be consistent, Seoul authorities must have a clear strategy to reduce car traffic downtown - like most major cities. Unfortunately, several projects (e.g. from Jahamun to the Yulgok Tunnel) seem bound to generate more bottlenecks in a near future.

• If a new plaza is built to the west instead of the central one: we are back to square(!) one and a huge highway in the middle of the city - 12 lanes of traffic! It would destroy not only Seoul's most valuable perspective (Sejongdaero-Gwanghwamun-Gyeongbokgung-Bugaksan-Bukhansan), but also Seoul's most vital pedestrian connector downtown (see links at the end of this post).

(addendum 20141025) Rendering of the project where the Gwanghwamun Plaza is moved westwards, recreating the central highway that used to ruin downtown Seoul (source "광화문광장, 세종문화회관 쪽으로 이전 추진" (Hankyoreh 20140930). A total urban disaster, but maybe the actual aim of the game is to prevent demonstrations, the only case where it would make sense (much easier to close the area with much fewer troops).

I'm against the plan to move Gwanghwamun Plaza next to Sejong Center: makes more money, but destroys royal perspective + cars rule again - 20141011 twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/520781390309126144

*

In the case of Donhwamun-ro, the idea is to boost tourism in a major but under-exploited historic neighborhood. A couple of years ago, I applauded the planned destruction of the two gas stations that faced the gate, but also shared concerns about the impacts of the Yulgok Tunnel on area. In this case, I'm at the same time glad that, at long last, the Changdeokgung-Jongmyo axis is considered as a key asset, and very much worried about how the whole project could backfire if handled carelessly: this is typically one of these time capsules you want to deal with carefully. How to revive the area without 'bukchonizing' it, without creating an artificial touristic hotspot and worse, a short-lived speculation heaven?

This area has already significantly evolved over the past decade. Here are the neighborhoods directly concerned:

• At the center, covering Donhwamun-ro itself: Waryong-dong and Myo-dong (the former also includes large sections of the palace, and even a part of Jongmyo - otherwise mostly in the Hunjeong-dong sphere). 
• To the north: Wonseo-dong and the Palace
• To the west, towards Unhyeongung and Insa-dong: Unni-dong, Nagwon-dong, Donui-dong, and the already endangered Ikseon-dong.
• To the east, towards Jongmyo: Gwonnon-dong, Bongik-dong
• To the south: Jongno-3-ga and Cheonggyecheon

Let's see this new project* in details:

• Where the gas stations used to be, an exhibition hall for traditional culture and a Gugak Arts Center will be constructed, creating a hanokish triangle with the gate. How to feed these cultural venues without depriving existing structures remains to be seen, but it's clearly a much more UNESCO-friendly scenery than the love motels behind.
  
• The 600 m stretch between Donhwamun and Cheonggyecheon will be "reconstructed", and I'm afraid this street could lose its vintage charm. This is a perfectly proportioned street lined with old trees, so please don't try to 'reconstruct' it. You wouldn't want to ruin everything the Jogyesa-way (its streetside now a sanitized disneyland), or even the Jeongdong-gil-way (see the "Jeongdong-kill" asphalt mess). On the positive side, Donhwamun-ro could become pedestrian, like Yonsei-ro**. 

Seoul should remember that it put the restoration of its fortress on hold because the UNESCO didn't think that it hadn't been done properly until then... the priority here is to secure the area from speculative alterations.

Joseon Seoul: in today's KJD, more on the restoraion of Donhwamun Royal Road - 20141023 twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/525086786767179776

Bonus: it would be nice to avoid the usual touristic fakes. I'm shivering just thinking about yet another embarrassing costumed reenactment. You know, after the changing of the guards at Deoksugung or Gyeongbokgung, something like 'watch the King perform his royal walk along the royal road'?

That's okay if you want to entertain duty-free shoppers on Incheon Airport's Airstar Avenue, but don't you think Changdeokgung and Jongmyo deserve something better?

*

See also:

• All posts related to Gwanghwamun, Donhwamun, or Yulgok-ro
• "Yulgokno Tunnel" (2012)
• "Gwanghwamun inauguration" (2010)
• "Changdeokgung : from station to station to ashes to ashes" (2010)
• "Jongno-gu renovation (continued)" (2010)
• "Gwanghwamun Plaza - The Aftermath" (2009)
• "Inwangsan's Great Wall and Seoul's Royal "T" Time" (2009)
• "Gwanghwamun Square" (2008)
• ...

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* "Royal road in Seoul will be restored" (Korea JoongAng Daily 2014/10/23)
** see "Yonsei-ro the first street in Seoul to ban cars in its transportation mix"

---UPDATE 20141025---
I added an illustration of the future Gwanghwamun Plaza, which clearly shows the return to a central highway.