ABSTRACT
Kang Hyeong-cheol’s Swing Kids (Sŭwingk’ijŭ, 2018) is a work of historical memory that emphasizes the Korean War’s multinational nature. Set within the Kŏjedo POW camp and merging the generic conventions of the musical with those of the Korean War film, it constructs an alternate history in which relations between a group of South Korean, North Korean, Chinese, and American characters play out in unexpected ways via dance. Swing Kids imagines liberation from the Cold War division system through the creation of a cosmopolitan community that transcends the boundaries of race, nation, ideology, and culture. It also offers a mythic origin story for K-pop, one of post-war Korea’s most successful exports.
