Dipping Into Korean History

The joy Brigade [by] Martin Limón

[New York] ; Soho Press [2012]

978-1-61695-148-1; $25.00

Ordinarily we see Sgt. George Sueño patrolling the community of Itaewon, right outside the gates of the Eighth U.S. Army compound in Seoul, South Korea, with his partner, Ernie Bascomb.  But this time it’s different – Sueño is on his own, on a mission of extreme importance to both the South Korean Government and the U.S. Army.  Kim Il-Sung has vowed to reunite North and South Korea before he hands control of the Government over to his son. This means the forces of North Korea will cross the DMZ and overpower the American-allied South Korean Government.  Sueño’s mission is to prevent this by sneaking into North Korea to obtain an ancient map which details the network of secret tunnels that run underneath the DMZ.  This means Sueño will eventually meet his former lover, Doctor Yong In-ja, the keeper of the map.

Sueño enters the northern port of Nampo as a Rumanian member of the crew of an Albanian freighter.  As they are welcomed into the harbor, one of the sailors is taken aside, abused in front of the others, and then taken away “to be dealt with,” while the others are welcomes into the People’s Hall of International Friendship as guests of the Great Leader, Kim Il-Sung.  They receive food and “entertainment.”

Sueño bribes an employee to get him out of the Hall, so that he can go to the nearby People’s Grain Warehouse to meet his contact, Hero Kang.  When he gets there, he finds a message that says “run,” so he does, finally finding himself hanging off a cliff above the river, with a North Korean policeman urinating on him!  When he gets back to terra firma, it is not safe, for he is captured by the Commander who had the sailor from the ship abused.  But the scene is interrupted by a big man who begins to upbraid the Commander for taking this prisoner while out of his jurisdiction.  The man is quite flamboyant, to Sueño’s amazement, and the Commander gives in, marching his troop away, leaving Sueño with his savior – Hero Kang. Kang briefs him and gives him a Warsaw Pact uniform to wear.  The next day they board a train, which takes them to Pyongyang. There are several close calls before Sueño meets Doc Yong.  Fortunately, Sueño has kept the fact that he can speak Korean under wraps, but he can still negotiate through things with life-saving awareness.

Sueño learns more about his task, which is not to be an easy one.  He must win a taekwondo tournament, so he gets some practice time in.  But while he has a black belt, he is not as in-shape as he should be.  He beats all of the foreigners except one, and is badly trounced by the North Korean Army favorite.  He does not get chosen to take the course that will easily take him past some of the major hurdles in the rest of his journey.  Instead, he has to fight hard to get past them, involving others, including Doc Yong and their son, whom Sueño had never met until then, Hero Kang and his daughter, and another man known as Moon Chaser.  There are plenty of close calls, with them getting captured and tortured, and then escaping, only to be captured again.  The journey is long and arduous, as they seek the tunnels that will take them south, where the Sergeant will hopefully be able to convince the U.S. Army to help the Manchurian Battalion, the last hangers-on of the Korean revolution, who hope to reunite their country, not under the Great Leader, but under the forces of historic righteousness.

Is the Sergeant strong enough to do this?  Will the Army listen?  What will the South Koreans do?  Will Doc Yong be captured and imprisoned for her crimes when last in the south?  What will become of the little boy who is Sueño’s legacy?

Many times during the journey, Sueño crosses paths with a beautiful woman named Senior Captain Rhee Mi-Sook of the North Korean secret police and a so-called “fixer” when things go wrong.  The last time he sees her, she is wearing a Major’s uniform in the South Korean Army.  Who is this mysterious woman, really?  Why does he keep seeing her?

This is a somewhat different book than Limón normally writes – the violence is not so general, and there’s more politics and history, but it is just as compelling as his other books.  Highly recommended. ~lss-r

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My book.