More than four decades after the Korean War (1950-53), the scars of the war still haunt many Koreans. However, Koreans are not the only people who have suffered. Tens of thousands of soldiers from the United States and 15 other countries fought in the war, many of them killed and others missing in action. Their families and lovers have been in grief over their losses. Touched by their sorrow and pain, novelist Jeon Kyung-ae decided to write stories about the families and friends of foreign soldiers who died or were reported missing, fighting for the cause of freedom in the Land of the Morning Calm. After seven years of preparations, she has finally published a novel on a U.S. soldier missing in action (MIA) and his fiancee. Published in mid-January, the novel titled "Montana 625'' has captured the attention of readers as well as critics for its unique subject. It is the first time a novel dealing with the Korean War from an American viewpoint. "Scores of novels and short stories have been written so far concerning the 625 War. But all of them depicted suffering by Koreans, not those of Americans,'' says Jeon. " In that sense, my novel may be meaningful.'' The Korean War is often called the 625 War here because it broke out on June 25, 1950. The novel is set in a small, old town called "Rodeo Town'' located at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, where a big rodeo is held once a year in spring. A daughter of a rich ranch owner, Annie falls in love with Johnny, the son of a ranch worker, and the couple get engaged. Johnny wins a rodeo but his drunkard of a father steals Johnny's prize money and runs away with a barmaid. Out of anger, Johnny volunteers to fight in the Korean War. Johnny gives Annie a ring made from a dandelion and leaves her, promising he will come back alive. Johnny, however, gets killed in action. In desperation, Annie leaves town, and gets married and divorced three times. After years of wandering, she comes back to Rodeo Town and drinks her days away. Annie, suffering from a guilty conscience, feels she was responsible for Johnny's death. When Johnny volunteered for the army, she entreated him not to shoot in a desperate bid to dissuade him from entering the army. Annie feels that Johnny was killed because he didn't shoot during combat. Heavy drinking and remorse drove Annie insane, and she leaves town when the day of the rodeo draws near. Holding a military citation for Johnny who died 40 years ago, Annie wanders through the Rocky Mountains and collapses by the Yellowstone River. The river sweeps away the old citation and a dandelion. Back in Rodeo Town, a newspaper story claims that Johnny is alive as an MIA in North Korea. Jeon was inspired by what she saw and heard during her stay in the United States. " When you travel in America, you often see old tombstones for Korean War veterans even in small towns. Covered with moss and eroded by rain and wind, a close look at them tells what they really are,'' she says. She was very surprised by the fact that so many Americans were connected to the Korean War in one way or another unlike what she originally thought. During a half-year sojourn in Bosman, a small town in Montana, she met a teacher who said his older brother had fought in the Korean war. A woman from Hawaii told Jeon that her dead father had served as a pilot. An old man, who drove a school bus, told her, " They said a war broke out in a foreign country called Korea. I went to Korea together with many of my friends. Some of them returned home alive like me, but others have not returned yet ...'' Without finishing, the old man left, leaving Jeon with the feeling that he felt guilty for returning alive. Towards the end of her stay in Bosman, Jeon visited a local museum and found a scrapbook of newspaper clippings and records of Bosman men who fought in the Korean War. " While reading the sad history of Bosman, my hands were shaking. The sad faces and voices of Americans I'd met swept through my mind like a whirlwind,'' she recollects. ``I decided to put down their bitterness and sad stories on paper.'' A journalist-turned-novelist, Jeon plans to translate her novel into English on her own, which she will complete by the end of this year. Jeon intends to publish the English version in the United States. After studying English literature at Sogang University, she worked for The Korea Herald in the early 1970s. For the novelist, "Montana 625'' is just the start of her efforts to collect stories about foreign soldiers who fought in the Korean War and write novels about them. Her next plan is to write a novel on Turkish soldiers who are said to have fought bravely in the war. Jeon has already named the envisioned novel "Istanbul 625.'' She says, " I will continue to travel to countries which sent soldiers to fight in the Korean War, and write novels on them. I hope `Montana 625' may help a little to the U.S.-North Korea negotiations on American MIAs and to the cause of peace.''<코리아헤럴드 기사에서>
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