Former Korean ambassador: 'I helped North Koreans out of humanism'

Though Kang Shin-sung has been a full-time novelist since 2006, many still call him an "ambassador," as he is more widely known as the real-life South Korean ambassador who escaped from Somalia in 1991.

Novelist Kang Shin-sung, who was a former ambassador to Somalia during its decades-long civil war [JOONGANG PHOTO]

Though Kang Shin-sung has been a full-time novelist since 2006, many still call him an "ambassador," as he is more widely known as the real-life South Korean ambassador who escaped from Somalia with the members of both South and North Korean embassies in Mogadishu in 1991 during Somalia's decades-long civil war, depicted in director Ryoo Seung-wan's 2021 film, "Escape from Mogadishu."

Ryoo's film is based on Kang's book "Escape" (2006). The film won six prizes, including the Best Picture Award at the 42nd Blue Dragon Film Awards. It has pulled in some 3.6 million viewers, according to its distributor, Lotte Entertainment, despite being released during the Covid-19 pandemic. The distribution rights for the film were also sold to 50 countries, including Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Morocco, Egypt and more.

In 2022, the Cinema for Peace Foundation nominated the film for the Most Valuable Film of the Year for its Cinema For Peace Awards. The foundation, a Berlin-based non-profit that recognizes films that focus on political and social issues, seeks to provide schools across the globe with an opportunity to participate in screenings of films on topical humanitarian, political and environmental issues.

In line with this goal, the foundation recently held a private screening for four members of the Lindenbaum Festival Orchestra — Sungbin Yoon, Geumbee Ahn, Henry Lee and Claire Kim — to organize school-based screenings of "Escape from Mogadishu."

The orchestra was established in 2009 by violinist Won Hyung-joon after being inspired by conductor Daniel Barenboim, who founded the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, composed of young musicians from conflicting countries in the Middle East in hopes of promoting peace through music.

After the screening of the film, the students were able to interview Kang, who was also present at the screening.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

A scene from Ryoo Seung-wan’s 2021 film, “Escape from Mogadishu” [LOTTE ENTERTAINMENT]

The film vividly illustrates the anguish you felt upon witnessing the "desolate poverty" that the Barre regime brought to Somalia. What did you feel while trying to earn the regime's support for South Korea's admission to the United Nations?

You have to remember that every vote mattered at the time. The sole reason for having the South Korean Embassy in Mogadishu in the first place was because we needed support from Somalia to be admitted into the United Nations. The circumstances weren't easy by any means, but it was work that someone needed to do, and I tried not to think beyond that at the time.

The book you wrote and the film that came after seem to provide different explanations for why you decided to save the members of the North Korean Embassy. The book offers a more rational and logic-based reasoning for your decision, while the film focuses on humanism as the driving force behind your choice. Which is closer to what happened?

I question your perspective on that because I believe it's the book rather than the movie that supports a humanist reading of the situation. Humanism precedes rational thought when it comes to decision-making. That involuntary emotional jerk that makes you want to help a child who's fallen into a well — the Mencian principle of sympathy, in other words — comes well before any logical analysis of the situation can kick in. The decision that to forgo trying to save the members of the North Korean Embassy would be tantamount to murder wasn't a product of rational thought but of pity and sympathy. In the movie, there are scenes where members of our embassy treat the North Koreans as an opportunity. They prepare defection documents, for example, to reap the benefits of "converting" the North Koreans. That's cinematic embellishment, which didn't happen in real life. The movie serves a secondary purpose: telling an exciting story. In the pursuit of that secondary purpose, I feel that it glosses over certain important psychological details as regards the humanistic motives that members of our embassy had for risking our lives to lend a hand to the North Koreans.

Did the fact that they are from North Korea play a role in your decision-making process? As in, because they are also Koreans?

It likely did. That is, after all, the thrust of the movie. But — and this is mentioned only in the book — we also rescued a member of the Romanian Embassy at the same time as we did the North Koreans. The sense of shared identity that arose from being of the same "people" wasn't absent when we decided to save them. But I would say that regard from human life played a bigger role.

In one of your books, you wrote that nations and individuals have different attitudes toward war. Nations, you wrote, don't die from getting shot and can take a stand for ideology, while individuals can't and do die as collateral damage in the interest of their governments. Do you think the North Koreans you mentioned in "Escape" felt the same way?

I believe that a healthy nation is one that creates opportunities for its citizens. I'd be hesitant to call the current regime in North Korea a healthy one because it curtails the individual liberty of its citizens and, therefore, restricts humanism. While a sense of ownership over the society that one is part of is likely present in most, if not all, individuals, there's a particularly strong link between the individual and the state in North Korea, which, of course, cannot be dismissed when considering a question like this. However, the North Korean diplomats I met when fleeing Somalia still possessed vestiges of humanism. I remember the North Korean ambassador saying that if he had been the only one left alive, he would've chosen to die rather than ask for aid from us South Koreans — it was because his wife and son were with him that he decided to go against his allegiance to the state. I believe that the innate potential for humanism and the pursuit of autonomy resides in every individual and that it holds the power to inspire even the most subjugated people to defy authority and the ideology of the state.

Your novels frequently feature characters who, through their relationship with a woman, find a way to transgress their old framework of thought and discover new possibilities for personal freedom and expression. Why do you often choose a woman to play this role in your books?

That's a fascinating question. I believe my new novel, "Sara Sawtooth Oak" (2023), will answer your question. It's the sequel to "Escape" and revolves around the life of Sara, a Somali woman. I wanted to tell the stories of people who were able to transform themselves through other people and love — hopefully, that's come through in the novel.

Is there anything you want to tell younger Koreans who know "Escape from Mogadishu" but not "Escape?"

I would like everyone to read the part in my book where the members of the South Korean Embassy in Somalia decide not to engage in murder by inaction by neglecting those who need their help despite being trapped in an airport where the rebels are closing in. You will be left with a much clearer understanding of the importance of humanism, an overarching theme in both the book and the movie.

BY STUDENT REPORTER GEUMBEE AHN [kjd.kcampus@joongang.co.kr]