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North Korea

Graphic Novels at WWB: The First Ten Years
By Susan Harris
The narrative threads that weave through the last ten years tell a tale in themselves.
The Sea Girl & the Prince
By Chae Kyeong-weon & Bae In-yeong
What! Who could this strange man be?
Translated by Bella Dalton-Fenkl
Introduction
By Shirley Lee
The mere use of everyday language is a subversive act in the North Korean literary context.
I Want to Call Her Mother Again
By Park Gui-ok
After that day, I had no mother.
Translated from Korean by Sora Kim-Russell
Multilingual
The Poet Who Asked for Forgiveness
By Gwak Moon-an
He came to accept that art had no value unless it was used as a tool of propaganda.
Translated from Korean by Shirley Lee
Multilingual
Pillow
By Jang Jin-sung
Nothing to offer but themselves / In Pyongyang’s marketplace
Translated from Korean by Shirley Lee
Multilingual
The Arduous March
By Ji Hyun-ah
With rations cut off, people began to starve.
Translated from Korean by Sora Kim-Russell
Multilingual
A Rice Story
By Kim Sung-min
Food bartered for your sister’s chastity.
Translated from Korean by Shirley Lee
Multilingual
A Blackened Land
By Kim Yeon-Seul
The earth is dark, the sky is dark, and the people’s hearts are dark.
Translated from Korean by Sora Kim-Russell
Multilingual
After the Gunshot
By Lee Ji Myung
You can’t drink when you have the money on you.
Translated from Korean by Shirley Lee
Multilingual
The Secret of Frequency A: An Incredible Disaster, part two
By Eom Jeong-Hui & Ko Im-Hong
Translated by Boris Fishman
The Secret of Frequency A: An Incredible Disaster
By Eom Jeong-Hui & Ko Im-Hong
Last year, shortly after the excerpt from Blizzard in the Jungle was published in the graphic lit issue of WWB, I ran across a blog, oikono.com, maintained by Geoffrey K. See, a Yale graduate student…
Translated from Korean by Heinz Insu Fenkl & Jungbin Yoon
Blizzard in the Jungle, Part Two
By Ri Chol-Geun & Jo Hak-Rae
Translated from Korean by Heinz Insu Fenkl & Geesu Lee
Blizzard in the Jungle
By Ri Chol-Geun & Jo Hak-Rae
Since the ideology and values conveyed in children’s books tend to be relatively transparent in all cultures, I hope this excerpt from Blizzard in the Jungle gives a useful glimpse into the self-representation…
Translated from Korean by Heinz Insu Fenkl & Geesu Lee
From “Great General Mighty Wing”
By Cho Pyŏng Kwŏn
Translator’s Introduction1. Reflections on the ManhwabangI grew up in South Korea in the 1960s during the Park Chung-hee years, back in the day when comic books, or manhwa, were classified as one…
Translated from Korean by Heinz Insu Fenkl
From “He’s Alive”
By Kim Hong-ik
Slowly, she opened her eyes. They were met with another pair, filled with tears.
Translated from Korean by Ha-yun Jung
From “Hopes for Good Fortune”
By Han Ung-bin
I said let my hand go. People will see!
Translated from Korean by Ha-yun Jung
From “Friends on the Road”
By Kim Byung-hun
I looked into her big eyes, cloudy and lifeless with concern, and my heart grew so hot that I could not find the right thing to say.
Translated from Korean by Ha-yun Jung
How the Other Half Lives
By Ha-yun Jung
And we are now as different as could be, unrecognizable like siblings separated at birth.
Second Encounter
By Han Ung-bin
His brow immediately grew red, his rage unmistakeable.
Translated from Korean by Stephen Epstein
Encountering North Korean Fiction: The Origins of the Future
By Stephen Epstein
Perhaps the most salient feature of North Korean literature in contrast to its southern counterpart is its eternal optimism.