Like the Indian novelist R.K. Narayan, who repeatedly set his characters down in the kitchens, back alleys and yards of his very own magical creation — the city of Malgudi — Korean writer Kim Sok-pom returns time and again in his work to the island of Cheju-do.
Where Narayan's location was fictional, Kim's is brutally real, springing from the experience of the zainichi, Koreans brought to Japan as forced labor during the colonial period.
A significant minority, they face the dual identity challenge of having to balance their Korean heritage with Japanese residency and an association with either North or South Korea.