Looking Back
By Edward Kim
Five years after the long nightmare had ended, the 18 million people set aside a day for reflection.
The image of God had finally been restored in their souls; the image of Kim Il Sung had faded away. They had human dignity again.
After the fall, the people supported a strong but decent leader. He had the vision of Lincoln, the political acumen of the fabled King of Siam, and the fortitude of Lee Kuan Yew. The country rejected all foreign alliances. Their nuclear weapons assured their independence.
To prevent S. Korean and Chinese carpetbaggers from exploiting their recovering society, N. Korea maintained its sovereignty and regulated its own border policy. To preserve its own unique culture unadulterated by American and Japanese pop culture, the government decided to monitor cultural exchanges. The people refused to be an open sewer where the world could dump its garbage passed as art.
One exception to the strict border policies was an allowance for family reunions. The millions of separated families reminisced over old photos and held tear-filled celebrations all over the peninsula. On New Year’s, grandchildren ceremoniously bowed to their elders for the first time. More tears of joy were shed.
In memory of the five million who perished in Kim Jong Il-made famines and gulags, the people built museums and wrote books as a reminder of what man was capable of when he relied upon man rather than God. Public trials of government officials and concentration camp guards were conducted. The world watched in horror as testimonies and photographs were presented substantiating the claim that North Korea under the Stalinist regime was indeed “hell on earth.”
The missionaries who provided aid to the 300,000 refugees in China at great risk and sacrifice to themselves were honored. Those who exploited the plight of the starving were put on lists and barred from ever entering N. Korean soil. Those who helped facilitate the downfall of Kim Jong Il, the reporters, NGOs, and other ‘Lawrences of Arabia’, were also officially recognized.
N. Korea experienced a renaissance in learning. ‘Ad fontes’ became the zeitgeist of its age of reconstruction. Historians became the most prized citizens. The people discovered a whole new world of literature and fine arts. Their own rich, ancient culture was rediscovered. The people relished historical perspective and cherished truth above all else. The Bible quickly became the nation’s best-selling book.
A statue of liberty was donated by the U.S. and erected in the stead of the giant Kim Il Sung statue in Pyongyang. A statue of responsibility was soon after erected by the people themselves. They resolved not to be enslaved by unrestrained freedom of choice.
There would be no more secret police or generational gulags. But student riots and the mafia would not be allowed to take their place. The people resolved not simply to be free, but to be good. The country recognized that amoral free markets could only flourish, not merely grow like a cancer, among a spiritually strong people.
The citizens began to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Churches sprang up in every province and town. Every church doubled as an orphanage to meet the enormous needs of an entire generation of abandoned and widowed children. The soft humming of hymns to fatherless toddlers could be overheard throughout the nation.
As the people grew in faith and solidified their foundation in the great books of the ages, the government loosened its restrictions on the flow of cultural exchanges. There was now less concern over the people’s ability to recognize much of contemporary media for what it was - culturally bankrupt.
Demands for reunification by the South grew louder. The people of the North wondered where their voices were during their decades of repression. “Not yet,” replied the North’s president. “You had delayed reunification during our suffering because it was convenient for you. Now you can wait a few more years until it is convenient for us. We are in the process of being reborn.”
