[Opinion] Women from the North

North Koreans tend to put “North” before “South” whenever the two words are used together. They, however, seem to agree on placing South before North in one case. That is when we say something about “Men from the South, Women from the North” which means men are more good looking in the South and women are in the North. We do not know when and how this common saying came, but it doesn’t have the smell of ideology at least.

▷“Women from Ganggye are all beauties,” North Koreans say that Ganggye is known as a birthplace of many fair beauties who have fair skin and long black hair. Pyongyang is also known for beautiful women. Arts critic Yu Heung-jun once noted in his account for a trip to North Korea that women in Pyongyang reminded him of a calm and poised beauty appearing in “Portrait of a Beauty” drawn by Hye Won. “Belles up north” is an idea also shared by Chinese and Russians. Japan, however, has long considered a couple between a man from the east and a woman from the west ideal.

▷Whether it is “south-north” or “east-west” combination, the belief seems to have something to do with socioeconomic factors rather than merely with looks. North Korean monthly Chosun Letters published late last year a poem titled “Secret about Beautiful North Korean Women,” in which it wrote about their being good housewives, warm-hearted, straightforward, good cooks and hard workers. In fact, there are two versions of the story about Chunhyang – Chunhyang in Gapsan went to find his love and killed herself in front of the man who betrayed her, while the one in Namwon waited and waited for his love to come back. As such, Women in the North where ancient Goguryo was located are outgoing, progressive and unyielding.

▷A strange coincidence is that the South has more men than women while the North has more women than men. According to the National Statistical Office, the gender ratio between men and women is 101.4 in the South, 96.3 in the North as of 2000, which complements each other almost perfectly. Once the two Koreas is reunified, marriages between southern men and northern women will serve as an effective tool for solidarity by promoting assimilation. We may even see alliances between northern men and southern women. For now, we expect to see some 300 fair women from the North who will arrive in Busan on Sept. 28 as members of the cheering squad for the Asian Games.

Im Chae-jung, Editorial Writer cclim@donga.com