Err.... This is too much to take in!
It’s sad thinking that SUPERSWEET’s month-long spooning with the Raveonettes has come to its end. Here we are; sobbing, hugging, and kissing Sune and Sharin, but before all this turns into a too passionate farewell with a threesome twist, Poonperm Paitayawat is distracted by the neon lights, the foreign signs, the multitudes of Asian-looking people. Where are we? He is being kidnapped by the Raveonettes!! When? Where? How? What’re we going to do?
Well, well, I haven't actually been abducted. Sune and Sharin just dump us off at Koreatown, alias “K-Town,” LA. The name is self-explanatory. But, do you know K-Town wasn’t founded by Koreans? History, written by estate agents, area developers and loaded businessmen, has it that a white guy (not being racist) called Henry Gaylord Wiltshire (what a middle name he had!) arrived at this barren land in the late 19th century, bought pretty much everything, slowly turned it into the financial oasis of the West Coast and named it “Wiltshire Center.” Man, the Gaylord got lots of unbeatable ego! Decades later, the Ambassador Hotel and the Wiltern Theater were opened and Hollywood stars in the likes of Charlie Chaplin and Judy Garland flocked this neighbourhood. Also entering the hood was Robert Kennedy, brother to JFK. Sadly, he did not get out alive.
It wasn’t until the major price drop in properties in the 60s that actual Koreans moved into the city. Later on, in the 70s, coinciding with South Korea’s Heavy-Chemical Industry Drive, Wiltshire saw a massive influx of South Korean immigrants and accordingly the once “Wiltshire Center” was rechristened as Koreatown. By the 90s, after the LA riots, Koreatown is booming; its density, diversity, safety and self-sufficient economy attract Japanese and Korean investors. Thanks to them, the K-Town has become what it is now.
Being a jolly sceptic as I am, I can’t help question what really is the Korean value. Could it be the über-spicy Kimchi we’re munching, the heavenly tender beef bulgogi we’re devouring, the noraebangs where we frequent every night to rehearse for 2010 X-Factor entrance, or the raunchily naked spas that suck -ARGHHH!- away our worries? Korean cultures can’t all be about the commercial stuff, can they? This commercial intersection between Korean and American cultures, I feel, diminishes what is the true Korean spirit.
After a hedonistic, Korean-overloaded day, I somehow feels culturally hallow and begins our search for the true Korean spirit. After a lengthy deliberation with ourselves at K-Town’s steamy spa, I - as Ms Tyra Banks would have it but with no model’s moneymaking teardrop - have reached the decision. I', going back to the Koreans’ home, going to the opposite end of the Korea spectrum. That means? I am heading for the heart of North Korea and the soul of the Motherland. Pyongyang, here I come!
NOT! Unfortunately, I find out that not only that a visa is required but also you need to enter with a group tour supervised by North Korean officials. Nonetheless, a long conversation with a very loyal SUPERSWEET newsletter subscriber and North Korea enthusiast changes our perception of this enigmatic country a bit. Pyongyang, known to the world as one of the axes of evil since its birth in the 50s, has recently made the TV headlines for all the wrong reasons. Underground nuclear tests, missile launch, weapon deals with Iran, famine, to name a few! Still considering that India and Pakistan have also been testing over-ground nuclear missiles very freely and that the (former) US government had been supplying Israel with weapons to blindly attack animals in the zoo and kids at the UN school, we have enough reasons to suppose that North Korea’s foul reputation comes from prejudice because this is a Communist country.
Let’s just screw the politics and focus on Pyongyang’s cultural and artistic trends. On the streets, as our SS fan recalls, there are some kids playing, retrospective futuristic buildings of the pre-Star Wars era, and last but not least, heaps of Kim Il-Sung iconographies. It’s a quiet and strangely surreal scene. Before entering Kim Il-Sung’s Mausoleum, you need to dress up smart and experiences a head-to-toe blow-dry to get rid of all the imperialist germ!
There, too, are breathtakingly beautiful, hand-painted, watercolour posters celebrating North Korea’s policies and leaders. Many of them are militant and anti-American; others encourage its citizens to increase food and labour production. These posters are the highlights of North Korean “public” art. Usually featuring two or three figures on a poster, these personas are representatives of North Korean values, social orders and gender roles. Evidently, with captions like “Let’s increase meat production by growing more pumpkins,” we are ensured that Pyongyang cherishes a totally different set of logics. Perhaps, that’s the reason they fail to make themselves understood in the international scene.
The highlight of Pyongyang is, indeed, the mass game. No idea what it is? Try to imagine the Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony. It’s just as overwhelming but a bit more spectacular! This takes place twice a year to celebrate the birthdays of North Korea founder Kim Il-Sung and his son, now-NK-president Kim Jong-Il. Yes, please keep your eyebrows raised. It’s all about their leaders in North Korea; as you may expect from this sort of totalitarian, Orwellian state.
By all means, Pyongyang is the land the world knows very little about but pretends to know so well. All the bigots and stigmas undermine the fact that Pyongyang is a culturally rich city; that people there answer to a different set of rules that may seem absurd to us. This doesn’t mean Pyongyang is an immediate evil. It is just a world apart from the K-Town we're in.
Words: Poonperm Paitayawat