New Release Unjust Death and Silent History... Author Kim Geum-suk Publishes Graphic Novel "White Shoes"

Author Kim Geum-suk, who has garnered worldwide attention in the comics world, is publishing a new graphic novel White Shoes: A Story of the Yeosu-Suncheon Uprising (Changbi) that captures the tragedy and sacrifice of the October 19, 1948 Yeosu-Suncheon Incident (Yeosu-Suncheon Uprising).

Kim Geum-suk, the first Korean cartoonist to win the Harvey Award, known as the "Oscar of Comics," and recipient of the French Order of Merit, Chevalier, has long addressed tragic aspects of modern and contemporary Korean history through weighty ink brush work in works such as Grass (on Japanese military "comfort women"), Jiseul (on the Jeju April 3 Incident), and Waiting (on separated families), delivering profound resonance to readers at home and abroad.

A Life's Work Born from a '6-Year-Old Promise' with Readers

This new work White Shoes is the first graphic novel to substantially address the Yeosu-Suncheon Uprising that occurred on October 19, 1948. Kim, who is from Goheung, South Jeolla Province, completed the work after years of collecting testimonies from bereaved families, conducting site surveys, and verifying historical documents to keep a promise made six years ago at a book talk in Suncheon when a reader asked, "Why don't you draw about the Yeosu-Suncheon Uprising, your hometown story?" and she pledged to do so.

Intersecting Tragedies and the Voices of Women Woven into "White Shoes"

The title and central motif, "white shoes," originates from white sneakers distributed by insurgents to residents during the 1948 Yeosu-Suncheon Uprising. It symbolizes the tragedy of countless civilians who were unjustly branded as "collaborators" by government forces solely because they wore these white sneakers, and lost their lives. The work, which depicts the protagonist "Sang-a" tracing the past of her deceased father and the circumstances of her aunts who died unjustly, significantly incorporates the vivid voices of female bereaved families who had long been forced into double silence as massacre victims and branded as "communists."

A Weighty Question Connecting the Past to Today's Emergency Martial Law

Furthermore, White Shoes intersects the 1948 Yeosu-Suncheon Uprising, democratization movements of the 1980s-90s, and the memories of recent political upheaval and emergency martial law experienced by Korean society, posing universal and urgent questions: "What must the state protect?" and "How can human dignity be preserved in the face of state violence?" The author created a masterwork poured with soul, applying ink not only with brush and pen but also by hand and foot, directly marking it onto paper.

"May the Dark Night Be Brightly Illuminated"... Acclaim from All Sectors and Global Publication

Novelist Jung Ji-a wrote in the recommendation: "The night when the author's father searched the mountains for the body of his deceased sister was the dark night of our people," and added, "I hope that the night restored by author Kim Geum-suk will brightly illuminate our people's dark night." Seo Jang-soo, president of the Yeosu Bereaved Families Association of the Yeosu-Suncheon Uprising, also conveyed deep gratitude, calling it "finally a gift to ease the grief of bereaved families who lost their parents in unjust suffering and lived in silence."

White Shoes: A Story of the Yeosu-Suncheon Uprising, which awakens hidden history through the intensity of ink brush work and compelling realism, is being officially published and has already confirmed publication in six languages worldwide: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and German.