Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=03/12/2004

TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT

TITLE=NORTH KOREA / COMIC BOOKS

NUMBER=5-55051

BYLINE= AMY BICKERS

DATELINE=TOKYO

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: A series of comic books that portray North Korean leader Kim Jong Il as an evil despot are selling briskly in Japan. As V-O-A's Amy Bickers reports from Tokyo, the books' author says he hopes to educate the Japanese public about Mr. Kim and his reclusive Stalinist state, but critics say the books are deeply biased.

TEXT: North Korea is frequently in the Japanese headlines because of the dispute over its nuclear-weapons program. But many Japanese are getting their information about the isolated North and its leader, Kim Jong Il from a novel source - a pair of comic books.

Combined the two comics - "Introduction to Kim Jong Il: The Truth about the North Korean General" and "The Shogun's Nightmare" - have sold more than 700-thousand copies.

Through cartoons, the books relate the history of Mr. Kim, including his relationship with his late father, Kim Il Sung, who was North Korea's first leader.

The second book also looks at the situation of North Koreans who flee to northern China to escape oppression and poverty at home. In addition, it looks more deeply at the Stalinist North's drive to build nuclear weapons and predicts the downfall of Kim Jong Il.

One chapter depicts Mr. Kim's reportedly bitter relationships with his stepbrothers and stepmother. Another explains the North Korean political system and says Mr. Kim's authority is reinforced by his handpicked aides.

Eri Tezuka, a 24-year-old office worker, says the books are an easy way to understand complex issues.

/// TEZUKA ACT IN JAPANESE, W/ VOICE OVER ///

In the two hours it took me to read the first book, I learned a lot about the personality of the North Korean leader.

/// END ACT ///

Japan and North Korea have a complex relationship, fraught with tensions that go back nearly a century. Japan colonized the Korean Peninsula in the early 20th century, and Koreans still have bitter memories of Japan's harsh rule. The Communist Party that controls the North has its roots in rebel groups opposing Japanese rule.

The two countries have never established diplomatic relations, and Japan has never compensated North Korea for the colonial period. But Tokyo has increasingly warm ties with South Korea and has paid compensation to Seoul.

The comic books do not delve into that history. And many Japanese know only the North's role in the tense relationship: In the 1970's and 1980's, North Korea abducted more than a dozen Japanese citizens for spying purposes, which Kim Jong Il admitted in 2002. Japanese also know that North Korea has shown its missiles can reach their country.

The tensions are compounded by North Korea's nuclear activities, which resurfaced in October of 2002, when U-S officials said the North had admitted to a new nuclear-weapons program, in defiance of a 1994 pact. Two rounds of international talks to resolve the standoff have made little progress.

The author of the comic books hopes to explain more about what goes on in Stalinist North Korea.

The first book was originally published five-years ago in South Korea by Lee U-jong, a Japanese-born Korean. He lives in South Korea, where he teaches animation and is an outspoken critic of the North's government. He says many South Koreans underestimate the North's criminal activities and human-rights abuses.

But copies of the book are scarce outside Japan. Seoul banned it, because it was viewed as potentially damaging to the government's policy of engaging the North.

Lee Young-hwa, another Japanese-born Korean and a professor at Kansai University in Osaka, translated the books into Japanese. He is a North Korea expert who says he opposes Kim Jong Il's government for violating the human rights of the people and for threatening the security of Japan.

/// LEE ACT, IN JAPANESE, W VOICE OVER///

I want people to know more about Kim Jong Il's personality because I think North Korea poses a danger to Japan.

/// END ACT ///

But critics say the books are one-sided and take too harsh a view of the North Korean leadership.

Toshio Miyatsuka is a North Korean expert at Yamanshi Gakuin University near Tokyo.

/// MIYATSUKA ACT, IN JAPANESE W/ VOICE OVER ///

I think the author of these books gets carried away too much by his negative feelings about North Korea. Readers need to keep in mind they are written by an opponent of the North Korean government.

/// END ACT ///

It may appear odd for comic books to tackle such political subjects.

But in Japan, comics, known as "manga," are used to tell all kinds of stories.

/// OPT /// Yuko Kawanishi, a sociologist at Tokyo Gakugei University, explains that this familiar medium attracts readers to complex topics through humor, caricatures and an easy-to-read format.

/// KAWANISHI ACT ///

This is an issue which is very complicated and loaded with various historical implications, and it may be difficult for many to understand the depth of the issue, so it is not surprising that the popular medium such as manga comes into the picture.

/// END ACT // END OPT ///

The comics, thank to their familiar format, have sparked interest among readers of different ages. While the publisher says most of the first wave of consumers who bought the books were men in their 30's and 40's, now college and high school students of both genders are reading them. (SIGNED)

NEB/HK/AB/KPD/RAE