Young Korean Writes U.S. Best-seller

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30472, 20 June 1964, Page 4

Young Korean Writes U.S. Best-seller

[By NORMAN SMITH] (From the United States Information Service) A remarkable novel, by a new young writer has slipped unheralded onto the publishing scene and been hailed as one of the ' truly significant works of the year. Titled “The Martyred,” it is a thought-provoking i exploration of war and faith that can best be described as a philosophical debate. Does God care? it asks. In these times of turbulence in so many parts of the world, how can one reconcile a just God with the terror and suffering of war?

It is the struggle between the agony of doubt and the longing to believe that forms the theme of this religious epie set against the background ot the Korean War. Its author is Richard E. Kim, and what makes his achievement even more impressive is the fact that he wrote the book in a language new to him: English. Now a teacher at Long Beach State College in California, Mr Kim came to the United States after serving for four years as an officer in the Republic of Korea Army. He first studied at Middlebury College in Vermont, but history and political philosophy began to pall, and he sought admission to the Programme in Creative Writing at the State University of lowa. Paul Engle, its director, obtained a scholarship for the young Korean, who soon began developing his talents under the guidance of such well-known writermembers of the faculty as Philip Roth and Vance Bourjaily. When he left the university, Richard Kim bad with him a completed manuscript in English. The language, while simple, had a rare eloquence and power. Philip Roth said of the novel. “It is written in a mood of total austerity; and yet the passion of the book is perpetually beating up against its seemingly barren surface.” It Is this starkness which helps give "The Martyred" its spiritual urgency and establishes the moral tone of the work. The plot is as simple as the language itself. Although the story takes place during the Korean War, it is not concerned so much with the battlefield as with the conflict in men's minds. An actual incident is used as the motivating force .During

the early days of the war, 12 Christian ministers were shot by the Communists occupying Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. Two others were spared. Why? When United Nations forces liberate the city. Army Intelligence assigns young Captain Lee, the narrator of the story, to investigate the circumstances. He finds himself involved in a mystery that transcends the military: a mystery having to do with man and his relation to God and his fellow men.

Captain Lee learns that one of the survivors of the ordeal is now insane. The other, Mr Shin, is silent and tormented within. He is the one-whom Captain Chang, Chief of Army Political Intelligence, suspects of having betrayed his companions. Chang wants the truth, so that it can be shaped, to further the war effort To rouse public enthusiasm, the murdered ministers must be presented as spotless martyrs.

As the circumstances of the execution unfold, Mr Shin’s bebehaviour becomes increasingly peculiar. He changes his story constantly, at first denying his presence at the massacre, then admitting it The local Christians shout "Judas!” and riot outside his door. However, a captured Communist officer explains that one of the ministers had been spared because of his insanity, the other—Mr Shin—because

he had had the courage to spit in the officer's face.

The apparent vindication is nullified by Mr Shin's unexpected confession of his guilt Its purpose, Captain Lee discovers, is to provide the bereaved congregations with an opportunity to learn forgiveness. Always, as Mr Shin recounts the bravery of the martyrs and his own treachery, he exhorts the hushed crowds to have faith in God

and a better life in heaven if not on earth. , Captain Lee, determined to learn the truth, exclaims, “Your twelve ministers—they didn't die for the glory of your god. They were murdered by men and your god couldn’t care less. Tell me, why glorify your god! Why glorify him while men are murdered by men!” Mr Shin finally whispers, “All my life I have searched for God, Captain, but I found only man with his sufferings . ... and death, inexorable death.” Lee asks, “And after death?” “Nothing. Nothing!” Despite this he is committed to helping his suffering people. “We must show them light, tell them there will be a glorious welcome waiting for them, assure them they will triumph in the eternal Kingdom of God!” That is the cross that Mr Shin must bear. Doubting God as he does, he nevertheless dedicates himself to bringing faith to those who could not survive without it When the United Nations forces retreat from Pyongyang he remains behind with his people. Later, Conflicting reports reach Captain Lee in the south. One refugee insists that Mr Shin was executed publicly. Many others claim to have seen him alive and free in various places in the north, continuing his ministrations

Mr Shin’s is the main story in the novel, but there are secondary characters likewise affected by the massacre and subsequent investigation. Chief among them is Lee’s friend, Captain Park, whose estranged father was one of the martyred ministers. Hating him for his infallibility, Park is obsessed with the idea of discovering whether his father revealed some human.

weakness before being shot. When he learns that the elder Park’s last words were, “I do not want to pray to an unjust God!” father and son are posthumously reconciled, and young Park even returns to the church.

. Captain Lee himself remains a sceptic to the end. But as he leaves a makeshift church in a refugee camp, he hears people singing a song to their homeland and, “with a wondrous lightness of heart hitherto unknown to me,” he joins them. And so, on a note of cautious optimism, the book ends. Although the reader is left to probe its hidden meanings for himself, its dearest message seems to be, “We must hope against hopelessness. We must dare to hope we are men.” An inspiring book, a powerful book, “The Martyred” already has achieved best-seller status in the United States and predictably will make its mark in other countries as welL