[Editorial] A World Where the Romance of Three Kingdoms Gains Popularity

There is news that `The Three Kingdoms` is getting hot in the market. After a famous writer translated `The Three Kingdoms` for the first time ten years ago, the book sold 14,000,000 copies and became a steady bestseller. Since then, eminent Korean novelists have entered the competition for translating `The Three Kingdoms`. I am sure that these well-known writers have their own reasons for putting the time and energy that should be going toward writing fiction into translating `The Three Kingdoms` but it is worth considering whether this is actually a positive thing or not.

`The Three Kingdoms` is simply a war novel, not a classic. Na Kwan Joong`s original `The Romance of Three Kingdoms` deals with the kingdoms of Wei, Shu, and Wu which battled one another at the end of the Han dynasty. Accordingly, the novel is full of Machiavellian machinations, sinister plots, and calumnious strategy. The fact that novels like `The Three Kingdoms` and Sun Tzu`s `Art of War` are likened to required reading these days bring close to home the fact that we are in an age of war.

The Warring States Period when numberless small states fought one another was truly a calamitous period. Figures like Seo Jin and Jang Eui who sought unification were the towering leaders of those times. Their intense battle of mind and strategy appears even greater than the American diplomat, Kissinger.

As if we need to read `The Three Kingdoms` to survive yet another Warring State Period (the present age), there are those individuals who pride themselves on collecting rare editions of similar novels in Korea, China, and Japan. It is not clear whether these people think that reading `The Three Kingdoms` over and over will help them live through this harsh world. If they do think this, however, it is somewhat distant from the wisdom that will help you live in the world honestly and with integrity.

At the end of the 18th century, Emperor Chung Cho banned novels like `The Three Kingdoms` and `Soo Ho Jun` because, he thought, they would lower literary standards, confuse public sentiment, and disrupt social discipline. Consequently, these works became a target of Chung Cho`s literary restoration policy.

In the eyes of the Choson royalty who valued peace and security above everything else, novels such as `The Three Kingdoms` could not get a favorable hearing.

Chung Cho`s immediate predecessor, Young Cho rule in a time when Choson society had already enjoyed at least a century of peace. It was at this time that collections of poetry such as the `So Dae Poong Yeo` came out which glorified a peaceful reign. Written by poets living in the outskirts of the city, they perceived their age as a time of peace and named their collection accordingly (So Dae means peaceful era).

From the perspective of modern society with its merit-based system, such figures who lived in the confines of a rigid class hierarchy, it is amusing to see that they would call their era a time of peace. This was possible because of the peace that the Choson kings brought the country after a century of warding off the Japanese invaders.

When will we ever hear such eulogies of peaceful times coming from the outskirts of prominent cities?

Having lived in an age of imperialism and its fierce competition, which has continued since the 19th century, such visions of a peaceful reign seem like a dream.

Yet we hope. We hope that the U.S. no longer bullies other around but shows confidence and tolerance. During the East-West Cold War era, the U.S. gave aid to poor countries and sought to address human rights issues in countries run by dictators. As the sole superpower in the world after the fall of the former Soviet Union, the U.S. has greater responsibilities now.

We also need to re-examine our unilateral support of the U.S. We still have a sense of gratitude to the U.S. for helping us during the Korean War. But that kind of loyalty is appropriate only if the U.S. functions as a true leader of the world. The task for us is how we will end the age of war and move closer to the age of peace. Even a less powerful and small country has many ways in which it can contribute to a peaceful world.