Alexander KAN. Lasting Call: My Return to North Korea     Dedicated to my daughter Katya (Translated by Yoon Kan, Berkeley University of California)   View from the burial hill in the city of Hamhung   Ladies and gentlemen, let me begin with a passage from my first short story, “The Rules of the Game.” Written in 1987, this story defined the meaning and direction of my subsequent work. “An...

This year has been incredibly difficult for a lot of us. As someone who graduated high school in 2020, I missed out on a lot of the “high school highlights” that I have been looking forward to since I was young. I lost my job opening, the school I wanted to attend and got accepted to was too expensive for us to afford, and I stopped being able to see my friends and family. And I’m not alone on...

Despair She stands upon a high cliffAs a beacon for his loveHoping the wind will carry himUp to her, high above Helpless he cannot reach herGazing up from far belowThe crashing waves drowned out his criesHis words are lost in the undertowShe waits as long as her heart canThen throws herself off in despairHe finally reaches the topOnly to find that she's not thereShe wasn’t the firstShe won’t be...

Before me,the road gleamsbone white under the blazing sun.Behind me,earthbound clouds billow in dusty brown.I dreamof sanctuary,paradise waitingto bloom beneath my hands.How did I forgetthat youwould still beyou?There can beno peacebeneath your critical eye.This land burns,parched grass crackling beneath my feet.Nothing grows here.There is onlydirt and stone,expectationsand accusations.I am ti...