Sun Hee dropped her luggage and ran toward her son. Ho Nam launched himself at his mother, making Sun Hee nearly fall backward. She held her son tightly while still standing, but then she crouched down to hug him, securing him deep in her warm embrace.
Ho Nam whispered to Sun Hee, “Mom, that man came to our house. We told him that you weren’t home. And then he told us to go to the train station.”
Sun Hee was at a loss for words.
“You know what?” Ho Nam continued. “Dad said he will go to night school.”
“Really?”
Sun Hee, overwhelmed by mixed emotions, choked up with tears, unable to speak any further. She held Ho Nam’s small hand and slowly stood up. The mist in her eyes obscured her vision; she could not make out the judge and her husband.
Jeong Jin Wu stayed back, and Seok Chun walked up to Sun Hee. Without saying a word, he helped Sun Hee with her luggage.
It had been a while since the two had looked at each other. One appeared detached, and the other doleful. Their eyes reflected resentment and understanding, forgiveness and hope as they looked deeply at each other and felt the other’s pain.
Ho Nam stood between them and held each parent’s hand like a child desperate for his parents’ love. He missed holding both their hands.
Jeong Jin Wu looked warmly at the family as they approached him.
Sun Hee kept wiping away her tears.
Jeong Jin Wu greeted her with “How was your trip?”
Sun Hee lowered her eyes. She felt the utmost respect and gratitude for the elderly representative of the law. She appeared enraptured at the thought of starting a new life.
They walked out of the station and onto the square.
Judge Jeong Jin Wu held Ho Nam’s hand and asked, “Would you like to come to my house?”
“Really?”
“Of course.”
“Did your mom come home, too?”
“Of course,” Jeong Jin Wu replied, chuckling. “In fact, she’s waiting for you.”
“Then, let’s go!” shouted Ho Nam.
Sun Hee gave Ho Nam a sign of disapproval. Ho Nam hid behind Jeong Jin Wu’s legs.
Jeong Jin Wu laughed and said to the couple, “Comrade Seok Chun, Comrade Sun Hee, you two go home. I’ll go for a walk with Ho Nam. I will bring him back around dinner time.”
Jeong Jin Wu wanted to give the couple as much privacy as possible. Seok Chun and Sun Hee must have so much to talk about on their tenth wedding anniversary—falling in love, the early days of their marriage… memories, life lessons, hope…
Jeong Jin Wu took Ho Nam’s hand and walked down the path toward a small park.
All the apartment buildings along the street had their windows open to welcome the sunlight and fresh air.
The sun was warm in May, and the leaves on the trees gave off the fresh fragrance of spring. The trees along the street waved their branches in the light breeze and provided shade on the path. Another small path led to a park surrounded by tall pine trees and flowers that blossomed late into the spring season.
They stopped at a newly painted blue bench.
“Do you want to rest a bit?” asked Jeong Jin Wu.
“Uh huh.”
Jeong Jin Wu helped Ho Nam up onto the bench. They both took a deep breath of the sweet scent of flowers, grass, and pine.
Between some trees and a grassy path, a newlywed couple was walking with an entourage escorting them. They took a picture amid the beautiful scenery with the apartment buildings in the background.
The newlyweds walked toward Jeong Jin Wu and Ho Nam. The groom’s face was as bright as the flower on his lapel. The bride had a corsage pinned to her dress and a crown made of roses. She lifted her long dress so that she wouldn’t trip over it as she walked. Each time she took a step, the tips of her shoes poked out. The bride and groom stood affectionately next to each other. The bride then rested her head on the groom’s shoulder.
The photographer knelt and focused his lens.
Ho Nam seemed entertained by the sight. He stood up from the bench and said, “Isn’t that nice?”
“Uh huh.”
Jeong Jin Wu was immersed in such deep thoughts that he answered without knowing what had been asked.
The photograph of the young couple captured life’s most beautiful artwork, the union and excitement of a new family on this joyous day. For older couples who had endured marriage through the seasons, the wedding ceremony was a fond memory, but for young couples, it was their reality. For the next generation, it would become tradition, society’s gift. The course of human history may seem uneventful, but the joy of one’s wedding day never grows old. This was the everlasting tradition of humanity that no one or nothing could destroy.
“Hey, mister.”
Ho Nam looked serious and continued, “It would be nice for mom and dad to have a wedding.”
Jeong Jin Wu thought Ho Nam would be disappointed if he told the child that his parents had already had their wedding ceremony, like this young couple, long before he had been born. He tried to change the subject.
“Would you like to have some crackers and delicious food?”
“No.”
“Then, what?”
“If there is a wedding, then mom and dad will be better.”
Jeong Jin Wu’s eyes began to sting with tears.
You’re right, child. If your parents had another wedding, then they would be more affectionate with each other, and you would be able to rest secure in their love and be the happy child that you deserve to be. However, what can I say? The wedding that you’re looking at with envious eyes happens only once. One day you will understand the meaning of marriage.
Jeong Jin Wu looked at Ho Nam and tried to temper the child’s hopes. Don’t worry, child. Your parents will remarry. They may not have a wedding ceremony again, but they will renew their wedding vows. It will be a spiritual wedding.
People began to fill the park to enjoy the mild Sunday afternoon.
There are people who dream of building a family, and there are people who already live in one. There is no one without a family. A family is where the love of humanity dwells, and it is a beautiful world where hope flourishes.
AFTERWORD
Paek Nam-nyong’s Friend is one of the few North Korean novels that has reached an international audience. First published in Pyongyang in 1988, the novel was picked up by the South Korean press Sallimteo in 1992, and the French publisher Actes Sud produced a translation by Patrick Maurus in 2011. One reason for this interest is surely the subject matter. In a review in Le Monde, Philippe Pons writes, “[Friend] is revealing of a literary approach that began in the 1980s, aimed at getting rid of ‘socialist realism’ and ‘revolutionary romanticism’—idealizing the heroic struggle and sacrifice—to deal with the lives of ordinary people.” Almost all the North Korean writing we have access to in English translation is by dissidents or defectors. Friend is unique in the Anglophone publishing landscape in that it is a state-sanctioned novel, written in Korea for North Koreans, by an author in good standing with the regime.
But Friend is not only of interest for what it can tell an Anglophone reader about North Korea. It is a novel constructed on powerful dialogues, internal monologues, and strong personalities. Paek’s Judge Jeong Jin Wu is concerned with the strength of the North Korean state, but he is equally concerned with universally thorny questions, such as how to balance work and family life and how to allow adults, especially women, the self-determination offered by divorce without causing the affected children undue suffering. Household chores and the social expectation that women will shoulder them even as they pursue careers outside the home are a recurring theme. And as the work’s title hints, Friend also explores the possibilities and limits of a helping hand, whether in the form of official government intervention or social or familial well-wishers, when an individual is struggling or a marriage is on the rocks. That Paek’s vivid psychological portraits also give readers a glance into a famously closed society is an unintended bonus.