Absurd Play

North and South Korea are by definition still at war, despite the armistice that was settled to ceases any hostile actions at the end of the Korean War (1950-1953). South Korea has achieved exponential economic growth since the 1980s, while North Korea focused all its economic endeavors into expanding the army and armaments, including the nuclear weapon. North Korea became the menace that could bring back the tragic war to the Korean peninsula with its military force. As a result, all men are obligated to serve the military in South Korea. Over 600,000 soldiers mostly between the ages of 18 to 25 undergo the hardship of training everyday for two years as their civil duty. Once drafted, soldiers are to leave their home and live in the military camp and train to learn the military expertise under the programs assigned by the Ministry of the National Defense. However, the elder generations whom are still traumatized by the vivid memories of Korean Civil War criticize the looseness of military discipline. They insist on reinforcing the level of military training to strengthen the army in an effort to prevent the outbreak of the war on hiatus. The post-1980s younger generations think otherwise; to the generation whom only learned about the Korean War in textbooks, outbreak of another war is just as unreal. And military duty is merely an unavoidable obligation to complete in the days of their youth. The occasional regional clashes between the north and south may raise the tension of war to the younger generations a bit, but the ubiquitous tension of war has blended into the mundanity of their lives due to the uneventful 59 years of armistice. As a matter of fact, they don't believe in the imminence of war and don't want to believe in it. I wanted to portray the conflicted young Korean soldiers who are lost in this prolonged 59 years of 'Paused War'.