Interview with Seh-Lynn Chai co-author of The Hard Road Out: One Woman’s Escape from North Korea
2023-09-13The Hard Road Out blends biography with autobiography to share two stories: one of Jihyun Park’s harrowing escapes from North Korea to finding asylum and Seh-lynn Chai’s journey to reimagining peace between two countries torn apart by over 70 years of war. I interviewed Seh-Lynn Chai to understand the complexities of writing the book and learned more than I had set out – the impact the book had in changing the shape of her Korean identity and how the shared human stories of both women in their fifties now residing in the United Kingdom resonate with other divided nations.
The South Korean writer, peace advocate and daughter of a Korean diplomat wrote her debut non-fiction novel after a chance encounter with North Korean co-author Jihyun Park in Manchester, England. Recalling her connection with Jihyun, she said: “I felt like my world was turning and the world was turning, two wheels in parallel without our two identities being connected”.
Can you tell me more about when you first met Jihyun Park?
"I met Park Jihyun at an Amnesty International event in Manchester. It took me a while to process the impact this meeting had on my life that led to self-questioning about my beliefs and the way I had been educated about North Korea. Nobody prepares you (as a South Korean) to meet a North Korean and have a conversation. It took up to five years to write the book because we didn’t know how to deal with each other.”
Meeting Jihyun Park crystallized a deep sense of guilt within me as I realised that living in a generalized indifference toward North Korea was just totally unacceptable. Jihyun represented more than just her background; she symbolised communism, suffering, and misery. Paradoxically, she became the force that breathed life into my days. She inspired me to exist in the sense of getting out of the state of standing still, ex-sistere, as per the Latin etymology, to strive for more, and to confront the truth about myself.”
What compelled you to write the book with Jihyun Park?
“After meeting, we began exchanging emails and then a few polite exchanges turned into a request to write her story with me. I couldn’t believe it.
For me, it was just a simple exercise of writing a book because I wanted to leave a record of this story. It was just too important not to put a testimony together. We wanted to leave a record for our children and the next generation to come, so that they know the facts that are coming from a primary source – myself and Jihyun. I didn't anticipate the sort of impact it would have on other people's lives. It became something that went beyond Korean borders.
For Jihyun, it was about having a record of her childhood - she couldn't really heal unless she addressed them and she couldn’t tell her children about her childhood before the book was published. It is probably less easy to imagine that it was healing for me too. It was a necessary step for me to feel comfortable with my identity as a Korean not just aouth-Korean and not identity in the sense of individuality.”
What effect has the book had on your readers and ultimately yourself?
“The kind of experiences mentioned in the book have resonated with many from countries divided by war. One reader from Ukraine thanked me for telling her story too, so this book is a story of divisions shared by so many cultures. Every time I gave a book talk, somebody would say, ‘oh but your story is my story, you might think that this is happening in Korea, but the same thing is happening in my country’.
Regardless of where they're from, they could relate with the conflict aspect, they could relate with the unspoken part of a family history, they could relate to all of these things.
And that's when I realised that if one book carries a voice like that and that voice can speak to all these different people from different parts of the world, the construction of a voice when writing a book was essential. I spent an enormous amount of time figuring out the right one for this testimony and in the end, came up with a voice that would represent the author, the narrator, and the character all at the same time, one that carries emotions and connects with the reader. It plays an essential role in making literature a powerful tool for reaching people and encouraging them to view the world differently. That's when I discovered my calling.”
The Hard Road Out by Jihyun Park and Seh-Lynn Chai was first published in French and later in English by HarperNorth. It will soon be published in Czech as well. Hear more about Jihyun’s story in The Other Interview which was conducted by Seh-Lynn Chai and produced by Amnesty International.
I would also like to thank the Royal Asiatic Society Korea for hosting the book talk with Seh-lynn Chai whom I would otherwise not have had the pleasure of meeting and arranging this interview.
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