Unveiling the Reality of North Korea's 'Pyongyang Cultural Language': This Week's New Book Releases

[Anchor]

New books have been released, including one that explores 'Pyongyang Cultural Language,' the standard language of North Korea that shapes the worldview of its citizens, and another that examines the flow of French Impressionism through art museums in Japan.

This week's new book releases, reported by Lee Joo-sang.

[Reporter]

[The Purest and Most Excellent Language in the World / Jung So-woon / Hwangsojari]

This is "The Purest and Most Excellent Language in the World," which reveals the true face of 'Pyongyang Cultural Language,' the standard language of North Korea.

North Korea's foreign language transcription rules include many Russian terms, and there are also quite a few instances where South Korean terms, such as "show-off" (boyeojugisik) or "elder" (eoreusin), have spread to the North.

While language is a tool for perception, the book points out that in the case of North Korea, the state's language policy through Pyongyang Cultural Language defines the world of its people.

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[Impressionists in Tokyo / Jeon Won-kyung / Sejong Books]

"Impressionists in Tokyo" explores French Impressionist works found in Japanese art museums.

After the Edo period, Japanese woodblock prints known as Ukiyo-e were introduced to Europe, leading to the emergence of an art movement called Japonisme in France.

This process led to the interest of Japanese capital in Impressionist works, and the book argues that one can understand the flow of Impressionism just by visiting art museums around Tokyo, including the National Museum of Western Art.

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[The End of Order / Robert D. Kaplan / Korea Economic Daily]

"The End of Order" argues that when chaos becomes extreme, it leads to extreme dictatorship.

The Weimar Republic, which was based on a modern and democratic constitution after World War I, ultimately failed to prevent Hitler's rise to power.

The book suggests that order must take precedence over freedom, and that liberals should be able to accept rational ideas even if they differ from their own.

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[The History of Myth / Shim Yong-hwan / Minumsa]

Why do myths not disappear? This is "The History of Myth."

Myth, a legacy of civilization, evolved into the form of literature after the emergence of rational thought.

The book notes that in China, where Sima Qian's 'Records of the Grand Historian' and Confucius' 'Analects' developed, there was no room for mythology, arguing that mythology is not a universal phenomenon of civilization but merely a standard based on a Western perspective.

(Reported by Kang Si-woo | Video Editing by Lee Seung-yeol)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.