As with most Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries’ works, Operation Nukorea is presented through Adobe Flash software using a combination of visual (text-based animation) and aural (classical/jazz music) aids. What truly sets this piece apart from the rest is its consistently top-down flow of text, making it read more like a traditional book. Although still considered to be a form of exploratory new media, it is much less demanding of the reader/viewer than other pieces such as Dakota. While Dakota is, for many people, an assault on the senses, Operation Nukorea can be a much more pleasurable experience for those who have little experience or interest in such literary aesthetics; such accessibility may allow newcomers to ease into a genre that may otherwise seem too foreign and confusing. In the same vein, it is not an interactive piece of electronic literature, and, therefore, may also appeal more to traditional readers.

The writing in Operation Nukorea is also enough to stand on its own. It tells a fictional story of a seemingly unexpected war between North Korea and South Korea/United States of America, in which millions of lives are lost. The highly imaginative description of crumbling apartment blocks, flames and clouds of gas cast upon the backdrop of a starry night’s sky, and the excruciating pain in which countless innocent lives are taken is remarkably moving. Furthermore, it treads across both political and philosophical ground in a manner that is both presently relevant and timelessly illuminating. Weave all of this together into a wall of text that purposefully emphasizes many words and sentences using bold-faced and italicised font, and a harrowingly beautiful score of piano-led music, and you’ve got an incredibly compelling piece of electronic literature.

Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries are a Seoul-based artistic duo consisting of Young-Hae Chang and Marc Voge. Young-Hae Chang, a South Korean graduate of the University of Paris, and Marc Voge, an American poet, came together in 1999 and have since created dozens of web arts pieces presented in up to 20 different languages. Their signature collaborative style consists of text-based Flash animation, often accompanied by original jazz or classical music, and engaging poetry or prose in a single creative package. Their most famous piece is, arguably, Dakota; based on a close reading of Ezra Pound’s Cantos I & II.

Wikipedia. “Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries”. 16 MARCH 2013. WEB. 24 MARCH 2013.

Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries. “Operation Nukorea”. WEB. 24 MARCH 2013.