| Kim Il Sung children's stories... [message #6221] |
Wed, 05 June 2002 14:10  |
Keith Howard
Messages: 44
Registered: October 1998
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Does anybody on the list have details of the children's stories Kim
Il Sung (possibly with Kim Jong Il) is alleged to have written? I
have been trying to find a reference and any details about such
ventures for some time...and any help would be much appreciated.
Keith Howard
--
Dr Keith Howard
Senior Lecturer in Music, SOAS
Director, AHRB Research Centre in Cross-Cultural Music and Dance Performance
Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG, UK
Tel: 020 7898 4687; Fax: 020 7898 4699; Mobile: 07815 812144; EMail:
kh@soas.ac.uk
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| Re: Kim Il Sung children's stories... [message #6222 is a reply to message #6221] |
Wed, 05 June 2002 12:20  |
Ross King
Messages: 28
Registered: October 2001
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Junior Member |
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Hi Keith:
>Does anybody on the list have details of the children's stories Kim Il
>Sung (possibly with Kim Jong Il) is alleged to have written? I have been
>trying to find a reference and any details about such ventures for some
>time...and any help would be much appreciated.
This won't be a lot of help, but two of these stories are featured on North
Korean postage stamps in the 1970s. The first to get its own set of
commemorative stamps was the story "A cock chasing a butterfly,"
illustrated in cartoon style on North Korean postage stamps nos. 1148-1153
(1973; the numbers are from the North Korean Korean Stamp Catalogue
(1946-1998)). The captions read:
1148: Cock appearing in the village of butterflies
1149: Butterflies discussing how to repulse cock
1150: Cock chasing butterfly
1151: Butterfly luring the cock
1152: Cock faced with danger
1153: Cock drowned
This set of 6 got a detailed, two-page write-up in Korean Stamps, nos.
11-12 (1974, pp. 24-25). The article starts: "Featured in the stamps are
scenes from the fable "A Cock Chasing a Butterfly" authored by the great
revolutionary leader Comrade Kim Il Sung and told to the men of the Korean
People's Revolutionary Army during the Anti-Japanese armed struggle.
Through a fight between a butterfly and a cock, the leader
explained that the victory in a fighting could never be won only by the
might of strength, but it could be attained by wisdom, determination and
skilled strategy..."
The second story is commemorated in another set of 4 stamps from 1979
titled "Story about Two Generals" (nos. 1785-1788). The captions read:
1785: Game of military arts
1786: Game of sending feather of chicken over fence
1787: Two generals smashing Japanese invaders
1788: Two generals returning in triumph
This set, too, got a two-page write-up in Korean Stamps (1980, no 2, pp.
22-23, but I seem to have only p. 22). The write-up begins: "This story was
told personally by the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung.
Upon a time [sic] there were two villages called Torae and Naru in
a coastal area of our country. Engaged both in fishing and farming, the
people of village Torae and village Naru lived intimately.
And, one day they were informed of the fact that the overseas
robbers were making preparations for attacking the villages. Then the
villagers began to make preparations to defend their homeland from the
enemy's invasion..."
Philatelically yours,
Ross King
PS My Eudora 'Miss Manners' censoring function really would have preferred
'rooster' in the North Koreans' translations!
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| Re: Kim Il Sung children's stories... [message #6224 is a reply to message #6221] |
Thu, 06 June 2002 13:37 |
sem.ver
Messages: 18
Registered: June 2002
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Junior Member |
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Keith,
we have a few of these children's stories in the British Library, a whole series of them seems to have appeared in the late 80s. One I have on my desk is called "t'okki ui paltojang" (kumsong ch'ongnyon ch'ulp'ansa, 1988); according to the introduction, Kim Chong-il told the story to his classmates who later used the inspiration to make this comic book. It looks like a crude attempt at an Aesop-style fable; at least it shares the violence of the format. In the last scene, the evil fox and wolf get crushed to death, and end up as "food for the crows".
hope this helps.
Sem
> from: Keith Howard
> date: Wed, 05 Jun 2002 19:10:31
> to: Koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws
> subject: Re: [KS] Kim Il Sung children's stories...
>
> Does anybody on the list have details of the children's stories Kim
> Il Sung (possibly with Kim Jong Il) is alleged to have written? I
> have been trying to find a reference and any details about such
> ventures for some time...and any help would be much appreciated.
>
> Keith Howard
> --
>
> Dr Keith Howard
> Senior Lecturer in Music, SOAS
> Director, AHRB Research Centre in Cross-Cultural Music and Dance Performance
> Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG, UK
> Tel: 020 7898 4687; Fax: 020 7898 4699; Mobile: 07815 812144; EMail:
> kh@soas.ac.uk
>
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