From the Hilton in Pyongyang to the Westin in Seoul

By Agnes Yu

The day begins with a headache. ``It’s as if his soul, having lay dormant in his body, woke up, discovered the heavy and authoritative being trapping it, and began pounding on it loudly in protest.’’

And so starts the book ``Your Republic is Calling You’’ written by Kim Young-ha in 2006, his fourth of five novels and the second translated recently into English by Kim Chi-young in 2010.

Unfurling within an intense and eventful 24 hour period, the plot revolves around 42-year-old Kim Ki-yong, a North Korean spy. He opens his inbox one morning to find an unexpected and unwelcomed email, one that pushes the “on” button for the agent after ten years spent blending in with the enemy in the South and falling into normalcy.

With elements of espionage, self-reflection and social commentary weaved expertly together, readers can expect to get a glimpse of various characters in modern day Seoul as Ki-yong tries to figure out who sent the email, whether or not he's been compromised, and if he's really going to go back.

The plot and atmosphere might be considered too loosely woven at times as a somewhat splintered narrative distracts from the actual plight of Ki-yong. The wife, the daughter, the longtime female friend, the other spies and even minor players are allowed time and space as day turns into night and unavoidably becomes the next day.

The author is a rather young and acclaimed novelist, who was born in 1968 and as written on his website, in this book ``he raises the question of human identity in a democratic and consumerist society.’’

Through the varied personal reflections of the characters the author bleakly observes, ‘the South specialized in lifelessness and defeatism. Indiscriminate weariness was prevalent’’ and comments, ``Large cities breed anonymity precisely because of this attitude, this pretense of sophistication.’’

Chapters separate the hours of the day and are cleverly named such as “Premature Nostalgia” and “Like the First Time,” which also alludes to a brand of soju.

There is appropriate background on Ki-yong’s childhood in the North, his training to be a spy by being immersed in a pseudo-Seoul, similar to a movie set complete with a stay at a fabricated Hilton hotel to better fade into the backdrop once washing up on the shores of the South. Contemplation on his life so far spent in three different countries, North Korea after his birth, South Korea when he first arrived as a young college student/spy, and South Korea now that’s he’s been directed to return reveals how well he’s adjusted to modern society despite the dreary pessimism exuding all around him.

One person he interacted with, he described, “Ennui dripped down his pant legs with his every step.’’

Several areas in Seoul provide the setting for much of the action, such as the underground Coex Mall, and different districts along with landmarks are mentioned making context a crucial aspect to appreciate the novel.

While having dinner at the Westin Chosun in central Seoul later in the day, Ki-yong revels in memories and deliberates on his escape. Just as the DMZ divides the peninsula in two, Ki-yong's life is cleanly divided between the first 21 years of his life in the North and the other 21 in the South.

On another note, the current geopolitical significance of a divided country and political ideology are not so much the focus of the author but rather how the individual characters attempt to make sense of the circumstances they face while making decisions to deal with such are given more pressing relevancy.

As the passing hours and chapters lead them to unpredictable situations even Ki-yong’s daughter contemplates after a fight with a classmate, “I’m the one who made A-yong go away, but why do I feel like I’m the one who was left behind?’’

“The Empire of Light,” Rene Magritte’s painting of a bright blue sky of clouds juxtaposed with a nighttime street, is the novel’s original name in Korean.

``Your Republic is Calling You’’ by Young-ha Kim, Mariner Books, 2010, 326pp.

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