Keum Suk Gendry-Kim (Goheung, 1971) is one of the most influential writers and illustrators in South Korean literature. Accustomed to working with reality, her graphic novels capture facts and testimonies from historical moments such as Grass (Reservoir Books, 2022), in which she collected the testimony of a Japanese army sex slave, and The wait (Reservoir Books, 2023), which narrated the plight of the more than 130,000 Koreans who were separated from their families during the war. Now, Gendry-Kim has focused on the current moment to send a message of peace between the two Koreas. The artist has just published My friend Kim Jong-un (Reservoir Books), translated by Yasmine Bonjoch Luna, a book that explores the figure of the dictator through interviews and meetings with people who knew him, or who were close to him. Taking advantage of his visit to Barcelona to present the novel, Keum Suk Gendry-Kim also participates in CCCB's Kosmopolis Festival with a talk this Thursday afternoon.

Kim Jong-un has intensified war rhetoric at a time when he has made closer collaboration with Russia. American experts warn that the situation on the Korean peninsula is the most dangerous since 1950. We must see if we are just facing a new verbal provocation from the North Korean leader or if he is really preparing the country for a war.