Of late, the East Asian smorgasbord of international affairs’ hot lobster has got to be our dear friend up North, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Since the much rowed over “space mission” that was to punctuate both the past leader’s Kim Jong Il’s birthday, and to remind the world of the North Korean’s military ambitions, Kim Jong Un has not stepped down on propagandist provocations, and threats towards South Korea and indirectly i suppose, to the rest of the world.
Common impressions about North Korea, allocates to them a social status similar to a mole – largely in hiding, up for air every once in a while. Only until recently that literatures for the lay public began to paint for us glimpses of what it’s like to be living in North Korea. There were very little that was known other than the food crisis that was 1990. The trickles who managed to flee the DPRK via China mostly spoke of State engineered Lies, of gulags, of untried imprisonment, public executions, things that we should think have stayed in history. And in light of that, listening to the military provocations come spouting from Kim Jong Un’s government really perplexes me – If you don’t agree with me, fine, but the word “juvenile” comes to mind.
But for every adult who claims to have reason, must give appearances their rightful doubt. And thus began my inquiry into the skin of our far removed Chinese cousin – who in many ways maybe presents to Malaysia a possible alternate history post Japanese occupation; if only the Malaysian East and West were that much more militant, more ferocious, more violent, more ambitious, more invested….
For now… amidst the splinters of fire, characters getting out of hand spot-lighting over and across the stage of international relations, shadows all but unseen, untouchable, kneeled to ground hunched over with burdens of painful stories that were never heard of – we watch, and we wait…
snout sniffer 