Dear Leader

http://www.randomhouse.co.nz/books/jang-jin-sung/dear-leader-9781846044205.aspx

Attended Jang Jun-Sung’stalk at the Auckland Writers Festival this morning.

Jang published the book Dear Leader, what made him unique is that he worked in the propaganda team for the regime before defecting to South Korea.

When asked what does words and poems mean to you as a writer in NK? Jang explained while he was growing up,  the literatures he read only carried two strong messages, hate and love. Hate the capitalist enemy , love the great leader.

There are only two writers works people are allowed to read in NK,  Kim Jong-il  and Kim Il-Sung. Foreign books are only published about 100 copies only and limited to the elite class to read. Normal people don’t get to read anything else other than the great leaders works. Its until one day by chance he came across the work of Lord Byron it changes his view on literacy completely.  He felt the works of Lord Byron’s are written for everyone equally. Since then Jang wanted to become a poet and a cripple like Byron.

Since Kim Il-Sung was a highly regarded poet in NK, therefore other poets who write for the regime are also treated with respect. Another reason poems are widely popular in NK is due to the lack of paper in the country, poems are cheaper to print comparing to novels.

In NK there is strict literacy laws. Creative people have no freedom , they must praise the supreme leader. Even actors who portray the leader in films will receive the ultimate respect from others. There is one producer got punished  just because he addressed one actor’s name slightly wrong .

Jang said that it is not just the power dictatorship people endured in NK, but also the emotional dictatorship. If a writer dare to write something against the regime, may face a 3 generation punishment, means the grandfather, father and son will all be punished.

When asked what was the turning point for Jang to leave NK. He said it was the famine in the 90s. During 1994-1999 about 3 million people died of starvation in NK. He described a woman on the roadside selling her young daughter for US$1 , just to buy a little bit of bread.

He also told the story of a young girl begging for food on the street, he gave her some cookies but the girl refused, instead asking for a tube of tooth paste. The reason is she eats rotten food she can find on the street, and she felt consuming  a bit of tooth paste afterwards will help her stomach taking the rotten food more easily. The girl lost most of her family members during the famine. At that point Jang realised he lived in the country which has the richest leader and the poorest people. Jang wants to write about the real life instead of lies. His mentor who could not escape from the regime has stopped writing, because he believes the only way to fight against the regime is silence.

Who is responsible for the famine? Jang explained in NK people replied on public distribution for food and resources. But when it failed to deliver , people still kept on waiting for the government to provide. They lost the ability to generate food and resources by themselves. This delay caused such a huge number of death due to starvation.

Jang also described his meeting with the great leader. He described Kim Jong-il as a desperate man. Before he met the leader he regarded him as God. When he met the leader at the great hall with all the others, he thought  the leader was just a man who is much older, fatter and more ugly than himself.

He saw Kim Jong-il  tearing up when he listened to a singer signing . The singer was not even singing a sad song. But once the great leader started crying,all the generals standing behind the leader raced to grab their own handkerchiefs and started crying too. At that moment Jang almost felt pity towards Kim Jong-il  , because as a dictator he never experience an ordinary  life and probably don’t even know how to express his emotions in a normal way.

When asked the role China plays in NK defectors, Jang explained China returns defectors even though they know that these defectors will be tortured and killed. Most people try to escape the regime will bring two things with them, poison and sharp razor. So if they are to be returned, or caught they rather take their own lives first. During his escape, he lost his dearest friend who accompanied him. He said many Chinese live on the border with Korea who speak Korean, 朝鲜族, assisted some defectors to cross border.

At the end of the talk, Jang encouraged  the international community to separate North Korean people from the government. He thinks what the ordinary north Koreans really respect is the dollar (economy growth), because they need to survive.  Its not a matter of will the regime collapse, but of WHEN it will collapse. He has strong hope that the government will not last long.

Someone from the audience asked how does Jang cope mentally with the things he has been through. He replied once he escaped to South Korea, he has the strong will to do something in order to create changes.