Nguyen Binh Phuong: "Stories of the Vietnam-China War... I Wanted to Convey a Heart of Reconciliation"

'Na and They' Covering the Vietnam-China War Story Released Domestically

‘Na Geurigo Geudeul (Asia)’ deals with the war between Vietnam and China. This is the first time a translated novel about the sporadic Vietnam-China war, which lasted from a few days to a month between 1979 and 1989, has been introduced in Korea. The novel tells the story of a younger brother tracing the footsteps of his ‘hyung’ (older brother), who was captured as a prisoner in the 1984 war. The author is Nguyen Binh Phuong. As a poet and novelist, he applied poetic expression techniques?compressing and omitting sentences and connecting images?to the novel. Although the narrative disregards the traditional structure of introduction, development, turn, and conclusion, making it difficult to understand even within Vietnam, it has formed a considerable fandom. Bao Ninh, a master of Vietnamese war literature and recipient of the Sim Hun Literary Award in Korea, praised it as “a masterpiece that makes one envious.” The novel won the Hanoi Writers’ Association’s Best Work Award in 2015 and the Postwar Border Literature Best Work Award in 2020.

Vietnamese author Nguyen Binh Phuong, who published the novel "Me and Them" about the border war between Vietnam and China, attending the book launch meeting held at a restaurant near Gwanghwamun, Seoul on the 26th.
[Photo by Seo Mideum]

At a press conference held on the 26th at a restaurant near Gwanghwamun, Nguyen Binh Phuong said, “Through this work, I wanted to talk about the life of individuals forced by the community, the choices individuals make for the community, and their consequences,” adding, “When someone invades, we pick up guns and fight, but what do we do with hostility when we put down the guns? I want this to be a lesson to put everything down and prevent war from happening.”

He continued, “My older brother, who fought directly in the war, sees China as the enemy, but the younger brother never calls them the enemy,” explaining, “I wanted to convey a heart of reconciliation by letting go of everything.”

The work is set against the backdrop of the little-known Vietnam-China war. When Vietnam overthrew Cambodia’s pro-China regime that was attacking it, China invaded the Vietnamese border with its army on February 17, 1979. The war continued until 1989, when Vietnam withdrew its troops from Cambodia.

The novel has been translated into English and Chinese and is soon to be published. When asked about the reaction of Chinese readers, the author said, “There is a translated work by a Chinese author on this subject, but in Vietnam, it is accepted as a single work. The feelings of Chinese people are probably not different,” adding, “I believe it is necessary to look back carefully at the events and go through a process of releasing resentment toward the victims. I wanted to convey a heart of reconciliation.”

Translator Ha Jae-hong explained, “Vietnamese people understand well that anger cannot be resolved with anger, and hostility cannot be resolved with hostility,” and added, “The attitude of not viewing integrative values as a confrontational framework is something Korean literature should embrace.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.