HYEJIN KIM was taught that her neighbours were enemies. Her book tells a different story.

I started writing in Primary One. It was an obligation for Korean kids to write in our journals every night and show them to our teachers the next morning. I hated it the first time, but at some point, it became fun for me.

Until Primary Three, I also had a drawing journal, in which I would draw with crayons as well as write. I still keep a volume of this journal back at home. It could unconsciously influence my writing.

Serious writing started from my college life in Korea. I had been writing some scripts and short stories just for myself, not for showing others. Then, one day, I saw a college newspaper that was looking for a story. I just sent one in for fun, and I received the top award. That gave me motivation as a writer.

Due to my studies in anthropology, I am trained to talk to people from different cultures, and I have heard many interesting stories. Those stories help me to develop my own ideas for stories. So, while I have been involved in other careers, I have also continuously developed my writing.

Turning enemies into humans
The inspiration for my novel, Jia, started when I was travelling through Europe as a backpacker. I faced a question from a British man I ran into on a bus. He asked whether I was from North or South Korea.

His question simply perplexed me for a while. To me, there was just one Korea. I had never thought of North Korea as a real country, or of North Koreans as real human beings.

My upbringing was strictly anti-North Korea, and discussion of North Korea was shunned. In comics and cartoons, North Koreans had red faces or bony features and their leaders were all monsters. Every year, on the anniversary of the beginning of the Korean War, I had to hand in an essay and a painting reviling North Korea.

Several years ago, I ran into some North Koreans in China. Both fear and curiosity struck me at the same time. But, I gradually escaped from those feelings, and I became a listener to their stories.

We had conversations, and we exchanged jokes with each other. I was shocked to realise they were not so different from me.

I wrote Jia to relate the amazing stories of the North Koreans I met. It is a human story, focussing on people's lives, not human rights issues. I don't want to just repeat what the media tells us, about how bad the North Korean regime is and how crazy its leader, Kim Jong Il, is.

Since writing this book, I have been invited to several talks in other countries. Many people have attended, and I have been able to see what readers think about my book. It has been great. Meeting my readers encourages me to continue writing.

All people have different ways to express themselves. Some people dance. Some people sing. Some people speak. I write.

About Hyejin Kim
Hyejin Kim is a writer and educationist who was born in South Korea and lives in Singapore. She has published four books: two in English and two in Korean. She has won awards for her writing. Her first English novel was Jia, which describes the eventful lives of several individuals from North Korea, which has unfriendly relations with South Korea. She is now working in Tianjin, China, for several months.