Jin-Myeong Kim (Provided by Saeum)

“I wanted to say that we should not forget about revenge. We have been invaded by Japan 770 times. Korea is going forth as a society that distances herself far from revenge. If we only continue to avoid fighting and revenge, we will absolutely not be able to protect ourselves. Even at the slightest provocation a Cold War will start again, and if we only remain scared, there is absolutely no way we can protect our future.”

Novelist Jin-Myeong Kim (age 59) gave a grim tale. His new novel, “Prediction” (Saeum) tells of the journey of two men who exacted revenge on the Soviet Union for shooting down the KAL007 for flying through Soviet prohibited airspace in 1983. One of the men seeks revenge through arms, while the other seeks revenge through ideology.

“Every person can exact revenge through their own methods. In the end, it’s a mental problem. We must not become a people who forgets about revenge.”

The novel begins with an unidentified aircraft entering Soviet prohibited airspace caught on radar through the U.S. Air Force’s secret base. The aircraft is immediately confirmed to not be a reconnaissance aircraft, but a Korean civilian aircraft. However, the U.S. Air Force does not send any sort of warning signals to this civilian aircraft from an allied nation that is flying towards a “Level 1 Danger Zone.”

The Far Eastern Air Defense Command of the Soviet Union surely understood this aircraft to not be just an average American reconnaissance aircraft. However, there was still the suspicion that it was a reconnaissance flight done in disguise through a civilian aircraft. Pilot Genadi Osipovich was flying in line with the aircraft, but after receiving the order to shoot it down, he launched two rounds of missiles on the “enemy plane” as it suddenly increased its altitude and slowed down.

With the mystery surrounding the KAL007 aircraft that deviated from its original course and entered deep into Soviet prohibited airspace, the author criticizes the neighboring powers around Korea who used this incident as a political maneuver. Even after receiving the report of a Korean passenger plane shot down, Prime Minister of Japan, Nakasone, afraid that Japan’s monitoring of the Soviet Union would be revealed, kept his mouth shut. With the possibility of reelection unclear, this incident was favorable to U.S. President Reagan in sparking the worldwide consensus against Communism.

In Korean broadcasts, it was reported that some “third party” nation shot down the KAL007 instead of the Soviet Union. This report was presented after the news that then-President Doo-Hwan Chun cleaned a village with a broom.

“These powerful nations distorted the KAL007 Shooting Incident to their liking. This includes the Soviet Union, Japan, the USA, and what’s worse, even Korea. If we continue to believe exactly as stated on the news, we can become caught up in conspiracies and plots of powerful nations.”

For Ji-Min, who lost a younger sister to this incident, revenge towards Osipovich became his/her reason for living. After learning Russian in America and studying astrophysics, Ji-Min successfully entered Russia. However, what would come of it to kill a mere general who was just performing his duties? The author then introduces the second man, “Moon,” and reintroduces revenge as a problem pertaining to the nation and ideology, as opposed to the individual.

Moon goes to meet General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Gorbachev, receives an apology regarding the KAL007 shooting incident, and asks Gorbachev whether he has any thoughts of proclaiming the end of Communism. Moon then goes to Pyeongyang and tells North Korea Premier Kim Il-Sung to let go of his Juche Ideology. Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the Unification Church who met with Gorbachev and Kim Il-Sung in his lifetime, is a model of revenge.

The author sees the collapse of the Soviet Union and Communism as a result of the KAL007 Shooting Incident. Moon’s prediction of the Soviet Union collapsing within seven years became a reality.

 “Ji-Min and Moon sought to exact revenge through his/her harsh life and eliminating Communism, respectively. Although their methods varied, they both did not forget about the KAL007 Shooting Incident and exacted revenge. True revenge is bound to be peace that comes from mutual understanding, but until we exact revenge, we cannot just sit around and do nothing.”

Under the topics of the conflict between the USA and China surrounding the deployment of THAAD (in his novel, “THAAD”), the hidden history in Hanja (in his novel, “The War on Writing”) and the KAL007 Shooting Incident tragedy from the Cold War Era, Kim warns the Korean people to look directly at the reality the Korean Peninsula and its people are currently facing.

Kim, who is currently working on a sequel, conveyed, “Conflicts surrounding the Korean Peninsula are intensifying, and we are in a state with a high chance of military confrontation. This sequel is a work that presents solutions pertaining to these problems.” (380 pages, with a price of 14,800 Won).... [See the original story]