By Agnes Yu
“Who said that communist literature was all drab and boring?” asks Jacco Zwetsloot as he aims to prove otherwise in his lecture on Sept. 6 at the Resident’s Lounge of Somerset Palace in Seoul.
Presented as part of the lecture series offered mainly every second and last Tuesday of every month by the esteemed Royal Asiatic Society’s Korea branch, “Spy Hunting, Re-writing the Korean War and Sowing Fear of the World: North Korea has ‘manhwa’ too!” will be sure to enlighten and entertain.
“Manhwa” is Korean for cartoon or comic.
Starting at 7:30 p.m., Zwetsloot’s lecture will be a glimpse into the world of North Korean comic books and highlight examples from some of his favorites.
The contents are broadly divided into three categories ― warnings against spies and how to spot them, cautionary tales about the evils of the world, and heroic tales set during the 1950-53 Korean War or pre-1910 Korean history.
Published since the early 1980s despite occasional paper shortages, comic books form the DPRK encompass illustrated story books for children, some caricature-filled horror stories and even finely crafted graphic novels with barely believable plotlines, says Zwetsloot.
A resident of Seoul for over a decade with a background in Korean studies, Zwetsloot has worked as a teacher, writer, voice actor, radio commentator, tour guide and a host of other related jobs. He is hoping to publish English translations of the North Korean comic books.
The Korea branch of the Royal Asiatic Society was founded in 1900 as a non-profit organization that offers lectures, tours and publications aiming to help people enhance their understanding of the arts, customs, history and landscapes of Korea, according to the website, www.raskb.com. Call (02) 763-9483 for more information.