[KALEIDOSCOPE]Gangsters' paradise

Traditionally, Korean literature features flabby intellectual protagonists who struggle to combat a sense of futility and impotence in a relentless, meretricious milieu.

Korean novels especially have superbly portrayed the intellectual timidity, inertia, and boredom of those who are incapable of coming to terms with the ruthless aspects of contemporary reality. These hapless types try to escape from their absurd lives, and yet their feeble attempts almost always end up in failure.

In a recent Korean novel "Gangsters` Paradise," however, the protagonist is a man of action in a gangster vein who terrorizes society by murdering his own twin brother, robbing a bank, and assassinating corrupt politicians. He secretly dreams of living alone in the DMZ where he thinks he will lead a serene, peaceful life. It never occurs to him how preposterous this idea is since the DMZ is, in fact, a precarious place with thousands of land mines still buried all over the place.

Of course, the theme of the novel is much more complex than it appears to be. The protagonist`s twin brother, for example, is presumably a symbol of North Korea, the bank an emblem of capitalism, and dirty politicians a relic of military dictatorship. The DMZ is a mythic place where North and South Korea could secretly merge and integrate - at least in the protagonist`s dreams.

Nevertheless, when reading "Gangsters` Paradise," one is amazed at how vividly it reflects contemporary Korean society. Indeed, everyday we witness numerous irrational clashes and ruthless violence terrorizing our society. When a newspaper carries an article against the wishes of a religious group or denomination, an angry crowd will immediately rush to the editorial office to protest, smashing the desks and computers.

The behavior of South Korean workers, too, is almost always intimidating and violent, armed as they usually are with red headbands, vests, and placards, demanding outrageously high wages and generous fringe benefits. On campus radical students frequently occupy the administration building or the president`s office, vandalizing in the process office machines and confidential documents. In the police precincts, drunkards beat up police officers at night or smash police patrol cars on purpose during the daytime in resentment. Meanwhile, on the streets of Korea angry demonstrators attack the riot police with iron pipes and baseball bats.

In the past, our political leaders were often compared with organized crime bosses in the sense that they wielded absolute power and demanded absolute loyalty. Indeed, they even looked like a group of gangsters whether in military regalia or decked out in civilian suits. Thankfully those authoritarian days are past and we now live in a time of sheer freedom and democracy. And yet, we still have politicians who are unable to say "No!" to their boss and who are still intimidating, if not terrorizing, people.

Recently, our politicians have astronomically increased income tax on writers who suddenly find that the amount of tax due has gone up 700 percent this year. This time, they have decided yet again to increase the real estate property up to seven times more than last year, targeted on those who own two or more houses or an expensive one. No apology for those who have made a small fortune by investing in houses, and yet, the amount of tax increase is certainly outrageous and irrational. Investment in real estate is not a crime, and tax is not a penalty, either. Few civilized or capitalist countries would impose such a radical, controversial and probably unconstitutional tax on their people.

Koreans enormously like gangster movies, probably because they superbly mirror their society. Nearly all the gangster films, such as "Friends," "The Moon-lit Night of Silla" or "My Wife is the Organized Crime Boss," were all box-office hits. So we have all become accustomed to violence, whether physical or spiritual.

And we have North Korea up there, constantly threatening the security of northeast Asia with its nuclear project. To the eyes of the international community, North Korea unfortunately looks like a gangster who takes hostages and demands not only acquittal but also rewards. The problem is that there are still so many foreigners who often confuse North Korea with South Korea.

Korea used to be the land of the morning calm, not a gangsters` paradise. Our ancestors were not good at fighting. Instead, they liked singing and dancing. Korea is well known as a country of "Yangbans (gentlemen)" who were far from violence and irrational behavior. We urgently need to restore the serenity and rationality that we have unfortunately long lost.

Dr. Kim is a professor of English at Seoul National University and president of the Korean Society of Modern English Fiction. - Ed.

By Kim Seong-kon