There used to be a man who would anonymously write the word ‘eternity’ in various locations all over Sydney, and he later became something of a cultural icon for doing so. I guess my idea came from that. It's also somewhat inspired by the song 'Progress' by Mission of Burma. I didn’t originally set out to write a fic about North Korea, but my train of thought derailed itself, and well… here we are.

For the sake of clarification, the story is set a few years ago while Kim Jong-il was still in power. Given that it is set in the country’s capital, the two boys’ personal situations do not represent those of the general population; they would be considered privileged compared to most North Koreans. These days Pyongyang appears to be advancing itself in comparison to the way it is depicted in this story, but conditions elsewhere in the country are apparently not much better.

While I did rely on my imagination for many things, I tried to do a fair amount of research as well. A lot of the things that happen are based on things I read about, so if parts of it seem absurd, that’s because NK is a genuinely strange place. Then again, it can be so easy to dismiss its people as crazy, brainwashed America-haters from a comfortable distance, even though they’re really nothing more than victims of their circumstances.

For more info on North Korea, visit www.libertyinnorthkorea.org

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