Nothing to Envy

Jun-sang is a privileged young man whose parents came to North Korea from Japan. He is tall, with shaggy hair. With the help of his relatives, his family enjoys wealth through the famine. However, as foreigners, their social standing is lower, so he is under tremendous pressure to succeed, go to university, and gain membership in the Worker’s Party. Despite this pressure, he is a bit rebellious—a fan of cinema and poetry, he is a romantic at heart, and when he sees Mi-ran, he is captivated by her beauty and spiritedness and decides to pursue her. Over the course of this time in Pyongyang, he is isolated from the worst of the famine, and exposed to ideas from Russia, South Korea, and the West. He gradually gains an awareness that he is skeptical of the regime, and that he wants to defect. After Mi-ran’s sudden and unannounced departure, he resolves to leave himself, working in Chongjin and China to fund his journey. Upon his arrival in South Korea, he remains curious and excited about the larger world that has opened up to him.

Mrs. Song is a mother and garment factory worker, as well as a typical North Korean beauty. She has a plump face that makes her look well fed, a bow-shaped mouth, a button nose, and bright eyes. She comes from a working-class background, and marries a journalist, Chang-bo. She is a true believer in socialism and the North Korean regime for most of her life. Although her children—and husband—sometimes have trouble due to their complaining and off-handed comments, she remains a believer in the regime. When the famine comes and her supervisor tells her she might stop coming to work and find employment on the black market, she is incredulous. However, after the deaths of her husband and son, she finds herself toughened, and less scrupulous when it comes to the letter of the law. When her daughter Oak-hee tricks her into going to China, the riches she observes—especially a rice cooker—convince her to go to South Korea. There, she spends her old age going on tours, and living and working on her own.

Oak-hee is the first daughter of Mrs. Song and Chang-bo. Like her mother, she is compact and round—pretty, with a “petulant pout.” As a child, she rebels against the mandatory tasks assigned to her and her schoolmates. She openly complains in ways that worry her mother. A gifted vocalist, she is hired to give voice to North Korean propaganda, a task that she doesn’t know how to turn down. She marries Yong-su, a musician who is also an abusive drunk, and becomes further disillusioned with life in North Korea. She sells herself as a bride to a man in China, and, after two years, returns to North Korea to reconnect with her children. She is imprisoned twice, and is forced to labor in a prison camp. With the help of Mrs. Song, she escapes, and goes to China again, before making her way to South Korea. Once there, she finds work recruiting girls for karaoke bars. She pays her mother’s way to South Korea, and is able to bring a sister over as well. She regrets that her husband will not allow her children to come live with her, and that she is only able to send them money.

A diminutive woman, Dr. Kim is the daughter of a father fromChina. She is driven, and becomes the youngest student admitted to her medical program, and then the youngest doctor at her hospital. She is divorced, and her son lives with her ex-husband. She works tirelessly to aid her patients and gather medicinal herbs, and hopes to become a party member. At the height of the famine, she is greatly pained by the deaths of her patients, especially her children. She nonetheless remains steadfast in her desire to ascend the ranks of the party. However, she discovers that she is actually under suspicion due to her father’s heritage. When she is accused of wanting to defect to China, she wonders what is keeping her in a country that doesn’t want her. She moves to China, and when the South Korean professor for whom she nannies discovers her true identity, she moves to South Korea. There, she is at first disillusioned that she cannot practice medicine. However, she re-enrolls in medical school as an adult.

A child of the famine, Hyuck is stunted, with a large head. He is an orphan from an early age; his mother dies, and his father is unable to feed him. His father repeatedly tells him it is better to die than to steal. He escapes his orphanage to find his father and brother—and to find food—but assumes they are dead. He becomes a “wandering swallow” and continues to steal to feed himself, before discovering that by crossing to China, he can sell North Korean goods. He begins to make money, but is eventually caught and imprisoned. After twenty months of forced labor and horrific conditions, he endeavors to leave North Korea for good. He travels to Mongolia, and when he is captured, he is sent to South Korea. There, he has difficulty accustoming himself to a new culture. However, as his relatives arrive and he guides them through the process of integration, he gains more confidence. He enrolls in college and begins learning some English.