All I want is rice

I read an article in a foreign paper the other day about a new musical directed by a North Korean defector, Jung Sung San. The play was extremely popular in South Korea and now the playwrite wants to take his work of art to the states with the hope that president Bush and other officials in Washington would go see it.

His play is called Yoduk Story and the man put up his own kidney as collateral to raise funds for the play. In my eyes, anyone with that much intensity is bound to create good art. I also wondered where there is a market for human kidneys; I'm pretty sure selling body parts is against the law in South Korea where the writer lives.

I would love to see this musical mostly because of the titles of two of the songs: "All I want is Rice" and "You are Just Like Germs." I also want to see it because it portrays what Jung went through in a North Korean prison camp: a look into what goes on there from an actual survivor. I also like what the man is doing. He was quoted, "my foremost goal is to send a message to Kim Jong Il from the political center of the world telling him to stop killing people." I agree with Mr. Jung, Kim is crazy and needs to stop killing people; I go out on a limb to say that most people in the world also agree with him. However, I find it hard to believe after years of attempts at diplomacy that a musical will have any kind of effect on Kim Jong Il. Anyway, I give Mr. Sung Kudos for fighting the good fight and following his dreams and aspirations.

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I just saw a thing on the news and it showed snippets from the play. It looks amazing. There were people getting whipped and lots of blood. Unfortunately president Bush was unable to watch.