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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>In the hope that the moderators allow it,
I give below a review of the first Inspector O book that appeared in <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>Asian Affairs</span></i>, the journal of the London-based
Royal <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Society of Asian Affairs. From this you
will see that I thought that Inspector O had much to tell us about the DPRK and
how it functions. I have read <i><span style='font-style:italic'>Hidden Moon</span></i>
and found it equally illuminating; I also believe that there is another episode
on the way.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>I did not meet any people who quoted
Burns, but there were those who knew their Shakespeare, and after all, Burns
was very popular in the Soviet Union (and I believe China before the Cultural
Revolution) as an example of a proletarian poet.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Jim Hoare<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>(British Chargé d’Affaires, Pyongyang
2001-02)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-style:italic'>Asian Affairs</span></font></i> does
not carry many reviews of novels, and perhaps has never had one of a mystery
story before. But then, there are few novels or mystery stories set in North
Korea, and even fewer than come with praise from Newt Gingrich, former speaker
of the United States’ House of Representatives, Don Oberdorfer, the doyen
of American journalists on Korea, and Professor Ezra Vogel of Harvard
University. And the fact that we are told that James Church is the pseudonym of
a former Western intelligence officer with over thirty years’ experience
in <st1:place w:st="on">Asia</st1:place>, might increase its appeal for readers
of this journal. Although as the reviews’ pages show, books on <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">North Korea</st1:place></st1:country-region> are
being published at a rapid rate, we still know very little of how North Koreans
think or of what really motivates them. <i><span style='font-style:italic'>A
corpse in the Koryo</span></i> helps on both counts. Read this book, enjoy its
clever plots and you will learn much about <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">North Korea</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>The story, as befits a mystery tale, is one of great complexity, with
numerous competing strands. The corpse and how it came to be in a guest room in
<st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Pyongyang</st1:place></st1:City>’s
Koryo Hotel is by no means the most important of these, and in any case, does
not make an appearance until well into the book. What is really fascinating is
the relationship between the various Koreans, from Inspector O and his boss,
Pak, both ordinary police officers - yes, they do exist - in Pyongyang, to the
more sinister figures from the many powerful investigative bureaux that exist
in North Korea. O and Pak appear to trust each other, from long years working
together, but the trust does not extend beyond their small circle. Like all in <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Pyongyang</st1:place></st1:City>, they owe their
positions to having a ‘good’ family background; O’s
grandfather was a guerrilla fighter against the Japanese. But even having a
good background and living in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Pyongyang</st1:place></st1:City>
does not guarantee luxury or safety. O’s apartment in crumbling, lacking
running water and with paper thin walls. Petty officialdom strikes even police
officers. O, cycling to work, tries to cross a junction only to be confronted
by a traffic lady, who insists that he dismounts and carries his bike through
an underpass; only cars can cross the junction, even if there are no cars in
sight. Simple consumer goods such as kettles are unavailable. O’s attempt
to take a crucial photograph right at the beginning of the tale fails because
the official camera’s battery is flat. Decrepit trains take days to reach
their destination. To show O that he is vulnerable, his flat is raided not once
but several times. As the story unfolds, it is clear that nobody is secure, and
the shadow of denunciation, followed by banishment from the city and its
privileges, or worse, hangs over all, high and low together. Among these North
Koreans, the ideals of the revolution have long since dissipated in the
struggle for survival. Ideology matters little except as a means of
wrong-footing your opponents. Energies are directed at crooked schemes and for
personal power. When these contesting forces interact, the violence is
spectacular. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>For me, one of the pleasures of this book was periodic flashes of
recognition. Like the Inspector, I had a similar confrontation with a traffic
lady over crossing an empty road, which I also lost. I met many like he
innkeeper on the border who rants about the quality of Chinese goods, yet is
still keen to have them. I know the beerhall in the Koryo Hotel where O meets
various contacts and I have seen Korean officials gathered there - few would
have drunk Pyongyang Beer, however, as the Inspector does. Like us, they
preferred the home brewed draft beer. Indeed, having spent six months in the
Koryo, I know it all too well, down to the very room in which the corpse is
found! I did not see anything like the casual shootings that Church describes,
but I have seen sufficient violence in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">North Korea</st1:place></st1:country-region> not to be too
surprised. Newt Gingrich argues that the story shows how precarious <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">North Korea</st1:place></st1:country-region> is.
I am not so sure. The story has echoes of 1920s <st1:City w:st="on">Chicago</st1:City>
or even 2006 <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Naples</st1:place></st1:City>,
rather than the end of an era, and Inspector O survives. Let us hope that James
Church will tell us more about his world.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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