Arduous march and other stories about North Korea

• Main Author: Kim, Ho Jae
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2015
• Subjects: Comparative Literature
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/2680
• Institution: De La Salle University

This short stories collection about North Korea is composed of five short stories. Each story depicts the ordinary lifestyle of the citizens in North Korea. Considering that the country's standing characteristics are oppression and violation of human rights, hunger, personality cult, guilt, shame, and survival, as well as hope, are the themes the short stories will operate with. The collection is set during and after the infamous Arduous March, the food crisis that lead to death of more than a million people due to hunger. The collection writes in realist mode. South Korea has never been the most active country in the world to attract efforts and publish books about North Korea. Western writers, especially journalist of well-known magazines and news companies have been more active in sharing the stories of North Korea. Considering this, the collection refers to many foreign writers like Barbara Demick, Blain Harden, Melanie Kirkpatrick, Andrei Lankov, and Adam Johnson, among others.