- Overview
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A military truck called Jemusi, witness to the massacre of members of Converted Anti-Communist Group during the Korean War, tells the story of that day.
- Book Intro
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The Korean War, which broke out when North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950, took the lives of hundreds of thousands of North and South Korean soldiers as well as soldiers dispatched from overseas before a truce was established on July 27, 1953. The war did not take just the lives of soldiers. Hundreds and thousands of ordinary, unarmed people were also sacrificed. The massacre of the members of "Gukmin Bodo Yeonmaeng" (Converted Anti-Communist Group) was the single largest incident of civilian massacre during the Korean War. Detaining and killing unarmed civilians without reasonable legal procedures by the army and police is illegal and goes against the basic human rights guaranteed by the constitution, even in times of war.
In The GMC Truck, the massacre is portrayed through the eyes of "Jemusi," an army truck that transported countless civilian members of Gukmin Bodo Yeonmaeng to places like mountains behind villages, isolated hills and riversides and so on during the Korean War. Many people were taken and slaughtered even in the mountainous area of Gimhae, Gyeongsang Province, where the gunfire of the war did not reach. The GMC Truck unravels the serious and sombre subject with simple lines and concise words. The contrast between Jemusi, which repeatedly climbs up and down the mountain with people in the back, and the rubber shoes that people throw out of the truck from a premonition of death, enables readers to imagine the atmosphere of the time. Although the pictures are objective and restrained, they are enough to depict that day. The advantage of The GMC Truck is that it does not tell you what is right or wrong. Instead, it makes readers see and feel things as they are as if they are watching a CCTV recording of the incident.
* Above all, Lim Kyungsup focuses on individual ethics and judgment instead of group values and ideas. The anguish and bravery of Jemusi No. 625, who refused to transport people to their deaths, make us think again about what is valuable to us.
- About the Author
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Lim Kyungsup
Same as Author
- Recommendation
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School Librarian Coulcil, 2018
Happy Reading in the Morning, 2017
Bookseed, 2018, Recommended book for Youths
- Selection
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Publication Industry Promotion Agency of Korea (KPIPA), 2017
Ministry of Cultures, Sports and Tourism, 2017, Sejong Books for Sharing Literature