See You Again in Pyongyang: A Journey into Kim Jong Un’s North Korea

310 Pages·2018·9.98 MB·English

by  Travis Jeppesen

Copyright
Copyright © 2018 by Travis Jeppesen Cover design by Jim Tierney. Cover
copyright © 2018 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
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Photo opening Part 5 courtesy of the author.
All other photos courtesy of John Monteith.
Map of Pyongyang/North Korea courtesy of Miles Clement.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018934067
ISBNs: 978-0-316-50915-2 (hardcover), 978-0-316-50913-8 (ebook) E3-
20180416-JV-PC
CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Map
Acknowledgments
Author’s Note
Prologue
Part One: Dreams of a Forgotten City
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Part Two: “World’s Worst Country”
Seven
Eight
Part Three: Norkorealism
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Part Four: Us and Them
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Part Five: The Atrocity Exhibition
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
Twenty-Three
Part Six: Victory Day
Twenty-Four
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Six
Twenty-Seven
Twenty-Eight
Part Seven: Houses of Friendship
Twenty-Nine
Thirty
Thirty-One
Thirty-Two
Part Eight: Folding Screen
Thirty-Three
Thirty-Four
Thirty-Five
Thirty-Six
Thirty-Seven
Thirty-Eight
Thirty-Nine
Forty
Forty-One
Forty-Two
Forty-Three
Part Nine: Reconciliation
Forty-Four
Forty-Five
Forty-Six
Forty-Seven
Forty-Eight
Epilogue
Also by Travis Jeppesen
Bibliography
Newsletters

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THE FIRST WORDS I published on my travels to the DPRK focused on the
country’s visual art and culture. Much of that early material was expanded upon
in this book. I want to thank David Velasco at Artforum and Lindsay Pollock,
Richard Vine, and Cathy Lebowitz at Art in America for commissioning and
editing those initial pieces.
After my study trip to Pyongyang in 2016, Spring Workshop in Hong Kong
provided me with a luxurious landing pad, a place to spend a month sorting
through hundreds of pages of diaries and notes I’d accumulated. It was a
nurturing place to start work on a book. I am indebted to Defne Ayas, who
recommended me for the residency, and the entire staff of Spring Workshop,
especially Mimi Brown and Christina Li.
I flew from that urban megalopolis halfway across the globe to the forested
environs on the outskirts of Vilnius, Lithuania, where I was hosted by the art
center Rupert. There, I had the dual task of beginning the earliest draft of the
book while simultaneously preparing for an exhibition that opened the same
month. It was an invigorating and productive few weeks of work of the most
gratifying sort, and I’m grateful to Juste Jonutyte and the entire staff of Rupert
for allowing it to happen.
In 2017, I was an international research fellow at the National Museum of
Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) Seoul, where a good chunk of the
book’s first draft was written. The experiences I had living and working in this
fabulous city enriched and expanded my understanding of the depths of the
Korean experience—historically, culturally, linguistically. I met many former
residents of North Korea, most of whom I sadly cannot name; each forced me to
make profound revisions to my understanding of life above the thirty-eighth
parallel and collectively made me realize just how multifaceted, misunderstood,
and unsummarizable those diverse life experiences really are. Their contribution
to my project is inestimable. From my time in Seoul, I particularly wish to thank
Sun Mu, Jang Jin Sung, Kim Kyung-mook, Kim Bom-hee, Dirk Fleischmann,
Bartomeu Mari, Misa Shin, Barbara Cueto, Emily Bates, Son Kwang-ju, Park
Hee-jung, Choi Sun, Yeo Gyeong-hwan, Eugene Kwon, and Emma Corrall.
Finally, the Hordaland Kunstsenter welcomed me as writer-in-residence in
Bergen, Norway, while I was completing the final draft. Many thanks to Scott
Elliott and Anthea Buys for the kind invitation and support.
Thanks to Alek Sigley and Tongil Tours for making the study trip happen.
Also to Simon Cockerell and Koryo Tours for organizing my first visits to the
DPRK. Pernille Skar Nordby was on one of those trips, and I gained much from
reading her subsequent MA thesis on North Korean architecture. To John
Monteith, who was with me on my first visit to North Korea, and whose
photographs adorn these pages. And special thanks to Tom Masters for inspiring
my interest in the country to begin with.
Miek Coccia has been more than just an agent—a sounding board, a
therapist, and, most of all, a friend. Certainly this book never would have seen
fruition were he not nearby every step of the way.
Many thanks to Paul Whitlatch for his immediate and enthusiastic interest in
the project and for his editorial insights that were vital in the manuscript’s final
revisions. And to the entire team at Hachette, especially Lauren Hummel,
Carolyn Kurek, Joanna Pinsker, and Odette Fleming.
To my great friend and mentor Bruce Benderson, who knows more than me
about the potential richesses that can be mined from getting lost. To Bertie
Marshall for hosting me in London. To my late friend Brian Tennessee Claflin,
who was both my muse and my biggest cheerleader and who knew I eventually
would write this book. To all the friends in Berlin and elsewhere who have put
up with my hours-long rants and conversations about North Korea over the
years, thank you so much. To my parents, Debi and Jon Jeppesen, and my
grandmother, Elizabeth Blackburn, for enduring it all. To Wang Ping-Hsiang—
home is wherever you are.
To all the friends in Pyongyang I cannot name—see you again someday.