The Accusation

The Accusation is a short story collection by Bandi. Background Bandi wrote it on brown paper, starting in 1989 and ending in 1995. He asked a relative of his, who was illegally leaving North Korea, to smuggle it out of North Korea, but she declined as she feared retribution from North Korean authorities if she was caught. In 2012 she was captured by authorities in China, so an activist named Do Hee-youn paid the bribes to free her so she could move to South Korea. When Do learned about the manuscript he arranged for it to be discreetly taken out of the country, which it was in 2013. A China-based ethnic Korean was the go-between contact and had a cover story as a tourist. Content There are seven short stories, all depicted as taking place in the 1990s, in the collection. "City of Specters" depicts the life of Gyeong-hee, who has a management position in Pyongyang and whose son has psychological difficulties when seeing images of Karl Marx. Thu-Huong Ha of Quartz called this story a "stand-out".