Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea

AUTHOR: Delisle, Guy

ARTIST: Guy Delisle (illustrator); Dirk Rehm (letterer)

PUBLISHERS: L’Association (French); Drawn and Quarterly (English)

FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION:Pyongyang, 2003 (English translation, 2005)

Publication History

Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea is Canadian-born cartoonist Guy Delisle’s anecdotal memoir of two months in the summer of 2001 that he spent supervising an animation department in the capital of the world’s most insular communist country, North Korea. He did not create the book while in North Korea but kept a sketchbook with notes about events and drawings of the things he saw. After returning home to France, Delisle picked the stories and events he considered most interesting and re-created them in graphic novel form, putting them together as if he were telling the story of his adventures to friends and family. He was sensitive about what information he added to his book, knowing that if he portrayed someone as a dissident, the person could be arrested, sent to a reeducation camp, or even executed.

Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea was first published in France by L’Association in 2003. Drawn and Quarterly released the first English-language translation in hardback in 2005 and paperback in 2007. The book was almost not published at all, however, as Delisle had to sign a confidentiality agreement with Protecrea, the company that had sent him to North Korea. Fortunately for Delisle, the company went out of business and so was unable to prevent him from publishing.

Plot

Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea opens with Delisle’s arrival at the airport in Pyongyang. He brings with him a CD player, a copy of George Orwell’s antitotalitarian novel 1984 (1949), and an illegal pocket radio. His sense of being a “stranger in a strange land” begins at the darkened airport (electricity is scarce in Pyongyang). Mr. Kyu, Delisle’s guide who must accompany him everywhere during his time in North Korea, and his driver give him a bouquet of flowers, which are not meant for him. Instead, they are for his first cultural stop: the seventy-two-foot-tall statue of Kim Il Sung, the revered Father of the Nation.

Delisle’s work time is spent at the Scientific and Educational Film Studio of Korea (SEK), which used to be a propaganda studio but mostly handles outsourced animation from French and other foreign studios. Delisle’s time at work is frustrating, with both a cultural divide and a language barrier getting in the way of production. Most of his free time is spent at his hotel, the Yangakko, one of only three in the city that are open to foreigners. The hotel is set on a small island near downtown Pyongyang, and even though it is forty-seven-stories tall, only the fifteenth floor has power. The hotel includes entertainment facilities and two restaurants, Restaurant 1 and Restaurant 2, both open to foreign visitors only. Delisle and his friends visit with other foreigners—mostly businesspeople, diplomats, and aid workers—partly for entertainment and partly as a way to relax apart from their omnipresent handlers.

Mr. Kyu and Mr. Sin, Delisle’s translator, take him on cultural visits, all of which glorify Kim Il Sung and his son, Kim Jong Il. In general, the cultural sites imply that the two leaders are loved and respected worldwide except in decadent and corrupt foreign countries, especially the United States and Japan. Delisle is never given an opportunity to meet with any North Korean citizens other than Mr. Kyu, Mr. Sin, and a select few employees at the animation studio where he works. During their trips around the city, Delisle tries to question Mr. Kyu and Mr. Sin about their country’s policies and their leaders’ beliefs, but both men remain steadfastly loyal to their nation. Delisle contrasts what he is told by the North Koreans he meets with what he knows from living in the Western world and with the plot of 1984, which he reads during his stay. At times, he is saddened or appalled by his hosts’ naïveté, but at other times, he is amused by the oddities he encounters.

Characters

•Guy Delisle, the protagonist, is an animator working for a French animation studio. He has been sent to Pyongyang for two months to oversee work outsourced to North Korean animators at SEK. He is familiar with traveling to Asia for work, but he has not been to North Korea before.

•Mr. Kyu is Delisle’s official guide, one of the few North Koreans with whom Delisle is authorized to associate. He is required to accompany Delisle everywhere during his time in Pyongyang and arranges for him to tour official sites. He is loyal to his country and its leaders and is shaken by the copy of 1984 that Delisle loans him.

•Mr. Sin is Delisle’s first official translator. A former military man, he is dour and shows great emotion only at the International Friendship Exhibition, when overcome by reverence for Kim Il Sung. He explains many aspects of his culture but always from the official political stance of North Korea.

•Richard, a foreign national, works for another French animation studio. He befriends Delisle on his first day at work, and they often spend time together after work.

•David is the background supervisor for the animation project Delisle is overseeing. He joins Delisle and Richard in their adventures with the other foreign nationals visiting Pyongyang.

•Fabrice Fouquet joins the other animation studio after Richard leaves. He and Delisle share stories about their time in North Korea. Two pages at the end of Pyongyang are drawn by him and recount how one of his film canisters was taken away and censored because he slipped away from his official guide and took unauthorized photographs.

Artistic Style

While Delisle reproduces several key buildings, landmarks, and monuments accurately enough to be recognizable, most of Pyongyang is drawn in a light, cartoonish style. Delisle’s portrayal of himself as sharp-nosed and slightly overweight is a good example of his self-deprecating wit. Further touches of humor are added in moments when Delisle is explaining some aspect of North Korean history or politics and creates funny, over-the-top examples to prove his point (“Which One Is the Spy?”). He uses thin ink lines and pencil shading, and his drawings are kept straightforward, relying on the shading to convey his impressions. For example, North Korea’s lack of electricity is illustrated by a scene of people scuttling through the dark streets at night, lit only by the lights of the few passing cars. He maintains a simple palette of grey with plenty of white to show the stark cleanliness of the capital city. Delisle also uses cinematic perspective to offer a counterpoint to the events he recounts, either by zooming in for close-ups or by pulling back for long shots. This technique heightens the impact of his story by giving the reader more of a sense that they are present at those events.

Themes

Culture shock is the most pervasive theme in Pyongyang. From the beginning, Delisle feels surrounded by incomprehensible behaviors and beliefs. He seeks to learn more, but his only sources of information are his official guide and official translator, who both adhere strictly to the party line. They are loyal to North Korea and are firm believers in the intelligence, munificence, and benevolence of Kim Il Sung, known as the Eternal President, and Kim Jong Il, known as the Supreme Leader. As he tours official cultural sites with his guides, Delisle contrasts what he knows from living in the Western world with what the North Koreans are told happens both within and outside their borders.

Rebellion is a minor theme because Delisle’s acts of rebellion are small. Outside radios are banned by the North Korean government, and local ones are locked onto the official station. Delisle manages to bring an AM/FM pocket radio with him, though he is able to pick up only a single station. He insists on walking many places, when his guide and translator would rather drive him; he occasionally journeys places without them, which is a violation that could get them in more trouble than him. Delisle makes jokes and asks pointed questions about North Korean political beliefs, though to no avail, and he flies paper airplanes out of his hotel window. During his free time, he reads 1984, Orwell’s classic novel about an oppressive society and contrasts Orwell’s fictional world with the real one of North Korea. None of the North Koreans Delisle meets rebel in any way, with the exception of one man who complains that propaganda films are boring. Even when Delisle loans Orwell’s novel to his guide, the man soon gives it back, claiming not to have enjoyed it at all.

Impact

Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea benefited from being released during a time when the tense global political situation—U.S. president George W. Bush’s references to an “Axis of Evil” included North Korea—offered a ready-made audience for books that explained complex political issues in simple, engaging, and innovative ways.

Additionally, graphic novels in general were growing in popularity at the start of the twenty-first century. Nonfiction graphic novels, especially journalistic ones that offered glimpses into complex and seemingly alien countries and political situations, were in demand. Cartoonist Marjane Satrapi’s memoir Persepolis, about growing up in revolutionary Iran, was published in France three years prior to the French publication of Pyongyang and released in the United States two years prior to the English translation of Pyongyang. The popularity of Persepolis, along with works by creators such as Joe Sacco and Art Spiegelman, set the stage for Pyongyang’s success.

In general, critics were highly favorable toward Pyongyang, citing its humor and its anecdotal nature as bringing a human touch to journalistic writing. They not only recognized the likelihood that readers might choose a graphic nonfiction work before choosing a denser, less-accessible prose nonfiction work, but also mentioned that Pyongyang was likely to inspire readers to seek out more information about the reclusive communist nation. Feelings about Delisle’s behavior toward North Korea and its people were divided. Some reviewers felt that Delisle’s Everyman, first-person look at his experiences treated his subjects with respect and humor; others were concerned that Delisle exhibited a high-handed Western snobbery toward the people’s naïveté, instead of accepting that each country will have its eccentricities and that people have difficulty seeing through political rhetoric when their information is limited.

Despite critics’ concerns about Delisle’s attitude, the overall critical success of Pyongyang bridged the gap between nonfiction for adults and that for teenagers, leading to its inclusion on a number of best-of lists aimed at both audiences. Among these were Amazon.com’s Best Books of 2005: Comics and Graphic Novels; Time Magazine’s Best of 2005: Comix; CBC Radio Talking Books’ Top 25 Books of the Year: Graphica (2005); and the Young Adult Library Services Association’s Best Books for Young Adults (2006), Great Graphic Novels for Teens: Nonfiction (2007), and Outstanding Books for the College Bound: History and Cultures (2009). Additionally, Delisle was nominated in 2006 for two Eisner Awards (Best Reality-Based Work and Best Writer/Artist) for his work on Pyongyang.

Further Reading

Delisle, Guy. Burma Chronicles (2008).

Thompson, Craig. Carnet de Voyage (2004).

Willems, Mo. You Can Never Find a Rickshaw When It Monsoons: The World on One Cartoon a Day (2006).

Bibliography

Arnold, Andrew D. “From Ming to Kim.” Time, September 23, 2005. http://www.time.com/time/columnist/arnold/article/0,9565,1108801,00.html.

Delisle, Guy. “A Talk with Guy Delisle: Looking for the Details.” Interview by Ada Price. Publishers Weekly, October 20, 2009. http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/new-titles/adult-announcements/article/1868-a-talk-with-guy-delisle-looking-for-the-details-.html.

Koelling, Holly, and Betty Carter. Best Books for Young Adults. 3d ed. Chicago: American Library Association, 2007.