The Square: A Novel

A story written by a then 24 year old Choi In-Hun follows our philosophy student protagonist Lee Myong-jun torn between North and South Korea. Lee is exactly the sort of introspective, narcissist 20-something philosophy student you'd expect, wrestling with his righteous indignation and somewhat misogynistic tendencies. He wears his overly earnest heart on his sleeve and is frankly a mess. Disillusioned by the corruption of the South he escapes to the North but instead of finding the excitement of revolution discovers a flattened, ash-grey world. In the end he chooses to escape to a third place, a neutral county.

The book reminded me of my uncle who wrestled with the same demons and disappeared one day. Given up for dead it was only 40 years later that my mother learned he had left for North Korea. His name appeared in the national paper as part of reunification efforts and my mother went to meet him in North Korea. Unlike Lee, he wasn't afforded the option of a third, neutral path and eked out a meager living as a university professor in the North. Living well by North Korean standards he was still emaciated, with crooked yellowed teeth in a borrowed suit confiding in my mother that all the gifts being handed over as a result of tearful reunions would never be seen by their intended recipients.