KIM SEON-DAL, whose name is made of the surname ‘Kim’ and the official title ‘Seon-dal’, is one of the most popular figures in North Korean folklore. He is said to have been a real person who lived sometime during the Joseon Dynasty (1392–1910). Stories about him are often linked to other local and regional figures in Korea, both North and South. Though he retains the familiar features of the archetypal prankster in North Korean comic book representations such as How Kim Seon-dal Sold the Water of the Dae-Dong River, he is always portrayed as being dedicated to the service of the people.

     Like traditional prankster figures in other cultures – Germany’s Tyll Eulenspiegel, Mullah Nasreddin (also known as Nasreddin Hodja) in Islamic tales, and Hershele Ostropoler of nineteenth-century Jewish lore

     – Kim Seon-dal typically exposes the contradictions and tensions between rich and poor, high and low, virtuous and vile, educated and ignorant. If we study the nature of his tricks – and thereby understand and appreciate the layers of meaning in the stories – his antics become our education. This is especially relevant for North Koreans, since Kim Seon-dal bears the same surname as the current ruling ‘dynasty’ of Kims. His name (and his pseudo-historical background) is especially resonant with that of the Great Leader Kim Il-sung.

     The name Kim Il-sung is generally said to mean ‘become the sun’. Kim is one of the three most common Korean surnames (they say if you throw a stone into a Korean crowd, it will hit a Kim, a Lee or a Park). The Chinese character for the surname can signify either ‘gold’ or ‘metal’. ‘Il’ can signify ‘sun’ or ‘day’ but when spoken it sounds like ‘one’. ‘Sung’ (seong) is usually read as ‘become’, but it may also be read as ‘star’, which when spoken sounds like ‘fortress’. Kim Il-sung’s name is not written in Chinese characters in North Korea; this permits a wider range of homophonic readings, which are actually encouraged in order to mythologize and deify him. Thus, he is the ‘Golden Sun Star’ or the ‘Golden Unifying Star’ in state symbolism. His name also resonates with the isolationist ‘Hermit Kingdom’ when it is read as ‘Single Fortress of Steel’.

      Since ‘Seon-dal’ is a Joseon Dynasty title for a man who has passed the civil exam but not yet received a ‘crest’ (i.e., a specific position and assignment), the name has the generic resonance of ‘gentleman’. Kim Seon­dal is not just an educated Everyman, but also a ‘golden’ one. Seon-dals were often idle intellectuals; South Korean variants of the Kim Seon-dal stories often show how his inherent laziness is the source of his ingenuity as a prankster, but in North Korean comics Kim is industrious. ‘Seon’ and ‘dal’ together form his title, but taken separately for their homophonic resonance, ‘seon’ can be understood as ‘enlightenment’ (as in Zen) or ‘goodness’. ‘Dal’ is the pure Korean word for ‘moon’. In Asian cosmology, it is understood that the moon reflects the sun – it is a mirror. Indeed, Kim Seon-dal is the figurative mirror to the solar brilliance of the Great Leader. When we read Kim Il-sung as ‘Golden Day Star’ (the sun) and Kim Seon­dal as ‘Golden Enlightened Moon’, the two figures complement each other alchemically, connecting the cosmos to man in ways that correspond deeply with Korean folk religion and Taoism. They represent the sun, the moon and the stars, protecting the people of North Korea in the secure embrace of the Great Leader above and the dedicated champion below.