<!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN">
<html><head><style type="text/css"><!--
blockquote, dl, ul, ol, li { padding-top: 0 ; padding-bottom: 0 }
--></style><title>[KS] KSR 2005-02: _Pyongyang: The Hidden History
of</title></head><body>
<div><font color="#000000"><i>_</i>Pyongyang: The Hidden History of
the North Korean Capital_, by Chris Springer. With photos by Eckart
Dege. Budapest: Entente Bt, 2003. 159 pages. ISBN 9-630081-04-0.<br>
<br>
Reviewed by Valérie Gelézeau<br>
Laboratoire d'Etudes Coréennes,<br>
CNRS-EHESS-Paris VII-EFEO<br>
vgelezeau@yahoo.com</font><br>
<font color="#000000"></font></div>
<div><font color="#000000"><br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>One of the
rare reference works to be found today about Pyongyang, this pocket
book offers, rather than a "hidden history" of the North
Korean capital, an "illustrated geographical glimpse" of its
sites and main features. The author, a journalist who lived for
several years in Budapest and who is also known for another city guide
about a reclusive capital (<i>Tirana in Your Pocket</i>), traveled
extensively in Central and Eastern Europe and visited Pyongyang in
1995 and 2002. The simple structure of the book reflects both the
nature of the project (a presentation of Pyongyang, its sites and
monuments), as well as the scarcity of references available about
North Korea in general and Pyongyang in particular.<br>
<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>After a short introduction reminding
readers of well-known facts, the book proceeds with a small section
entitled "Background" (13-31), dealing with history and
politics. A chronology recalls selected dates of Pyongyang's history,
and a few paragraphs develop the vicissitudes of the city's history
between 1945 and 1960, covering its devastation during the Korean War
and subsequent reconstruction. The section on political aspects
briefly presents two biographical notices of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong
Il, as well as discussion of the eccentricities of the North Korean
regime, which "turned the personality cult into an actual
dynasty" (26). The rest of the book ("Sites", 33-149)
consists of a quite extensive catalogue of the main sites of Pyongyang
(although each is described rather briefly), as if the reader were to
follow a tour, which travels-as typically in city guides-from the
central city to more peripheral areas.<br>
<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>This
"geographical glimpse" of the city and its sites is
accompanied by 6 maps, including a general map of Pyongyang (94-95),
referencing all 140 sites mentioned in the text. Although not
geographical maps per se (for example, they do not give detailed
indication of the urban topography), they do give precise locations,
including those of several vanished sites that played an important
role in the city's history (Pyongyang airport, the Tosongrang slums,
the<i> kisaeng</i> village). Most of the sites appear in pictures,
thanks to numerous photos provided by Eckart Dege, himself one of the
few to have written about Pyongyang (see<i> Geojournal</i>, 1990).<br>
<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Although the title does not reflect the book's genuine
content (certainly it is not a history, "hidden" or not, of
the North Korean capital), the book does differ from a simple tour
guide for several reasons. The catalogue of sites not only gives
historical and/or architectural facts, but also often includes
interesting comments and anecdotes, such as about the destruction of
Ryunhwanson Street (64) or about the Soviet Army statue (63). The
description of sites is also scattered with numerous general notes
about Pyongyang and the regime, popular culture, history, etc., as
e.g. on "Apartment life" (59) and "The 1967 Flood"
(98-99), that reveal discrepancies between official history and other
interpretations. We are told that the manuscript has been vetted by
such notable scholars as Andrei Lankov and Eckart Dege, which
encourages confidence in these elements, and the quality of the
illustrations and the precise maps are indeed assets.</font><br>
<font color="#000000"></font></div>
<div><font
color="#000000"><x-tab>
</x-tab>Considering the nature of the project, however, one regrets
that this book nurtures the usual view of Pyongyang, a view that
stands already in its own introduction: that it is "an inorganic
city", where inhabitants stand as ghosts, crushed by the
monumentality of the sites and monuments erected by the regime. Isn't
there something more to be discovered and experienced in
Pyongyang-even when one is "shepherded by government minders and
segregated from the population" (9)? More technical regrets about
the book include its transliteration choice, which follows the North
Korean system, with no reference to the McCune-Reischauer
romanization. This transliteration, together with a list of
"suggested reading" instead of a more formal and extensive
bibliography, suggests that the book is intended for the (very rare)
traveller rather than the academic.</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000"><br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>The work,
whose title creates a false impression, is indeed not an academic book
per se. But, as a very precise catalogue of over 100 sites in the
city, with a critical stance towards the regime's official history,
and accompanied by Dege's splendid collection of photos, it does
provide a useful starting point in coming to grips with Pyongyang, and
offers valuable references for dealing with other materials about the
city. As such, one might consider it a worthy glimpse at the North
Korean capital and its landscape from the realm of critical
geography.<br>
<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab> <br>
Citation:<br>
Gelézeau, Valérie 2005<br>
<i>_</i>Pyongyang: The Hidden History of the North Korean Capital_, by
Chris Springer, (2003)<br>
_Korean Studies Review_ 2005, no. 02<br>
Electronic file: http://koreaweb.ws/ks/ksr/ksr05-02.htm</font><br>
<font color="#000000"></font></div>
</body>
</html>