Musical “The Goddess Is Watching” is a moving drama about South and North Korean soldiers stranded on a deserted island during the Korean War. It had run from January 15th to March 10th at Chungmu Art Hall in downtown Seoul. Although the musical featured soldiers and the grim reality of war, it had drawn more women than men, a telling sign of its heart-stirring sensitivity.

- Although the musical dealt with inter-Korean conflict, I was more moved by how human beings came together. People of my generation are not that interested in inter-Korean relationship, but this musical made me think about the separated families and how sad they feel about not being able to see their loved ones.

This year marks the sixtieth anniversary of the Korean War armistice. South and North Korea entered truce on July 27, 1953 as commanders of U.N., North Korean, and Chinese forces signed a ceasefire treaty. That put an end to the all-out war, but North Korea has violated the agreement some 220 times, including the naval battle on the Yellow Sea in 2002, the sinking of the naval ship Cheonan in 2010, and the artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island in 2010, threatening peace and security on the Korean Peninsula. The nightmarish memories of the war six decades ago have faded over time, but we must remember that the two Koreas are still technically at war. In celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of the armistice, a variety of peace- and war-themed performances has been produced this year to wish peace in the region. Musical “The Goddess Is Watching” was one such case.

The tale started during the Korean War. A South Korean captain named Hahn Young-beom was transporting four North Korean prisoners of war on a ship and heading toward a prison camp.

But the North Korean POWs somehow broke out of their shackles and attacked their South Korean guards.

Now the South Korean soldiers were bound and held captive. But a violent storm threw the ship on the shores of a deserted island, leaving both the North and South Korean soldiers stranded only with a broken ship. The only person who knows how to fix the vessel was North Korean Ryu Sun-ho, but he was too traumatized by the death of his brother and the war to think straight and face reality, let alone do the repair.

What were the choices these soldiers faced in order to leave the island alive? Here’s the show’s director Park So-young.

There were four North Korean soldiers and only two South Koreans. The table was turned. Now held captive, Captain Hahn of South Korea must use his head to stay alive and leave the island. The only way to escape from there was to fix the ship, but the only person able to do that was out of his mind and time just ticks by. So Captain Hahn tried to coax Ryu Sun-ho out of his private hell by making up a fictional character of a goddess.

So this was where the musical’s title “The Goddess Is Watching” came from.

The mythical goddess was born out of Hahn’s imagination. Quick-witted and perceptive, Hahn told mentally unstable Ryu that a goddess lived on the island and the only way to please her was for him to do her bidding.

Ryu was captivated by the story of the goddess. Captain Hahn convinced the three other North Korean soldiers to pretend that they also believe in the existence of this goddess so that they could all escape from the island.

They all acted like they believed in the goddess for the sake of survival. The desperate situation of being stranded on a deserted island had brought these enemies together. Here’s the show’s director Park So-young again.

Both North and South Korean soldiers told a white lie. Because they had to pretend to believe in this made-up goddess, they tried to get along with one another. During the process they learned about other people’s lives and their hurts. This baring of the soul healed their psychological and emotional wounds and helped them understand one another as human beings.

The confrontation and conflict between South and North Korea were eased through the workings of a fictional character, the goddess. This was why this make-believe element was so needed in the musical. Here’s cultural critic Kim Seong-su.

War devastates everyone and drives everyone into a nightmarish situation. In conflict people cannot help but make enemies and act out on fear. They use violence to protect themselves and one way to halt the mutually damaging situation is to share a value that overcomes violence. That’s where the elements of a deserted island and a supernatural being of goddess came in to play. On the island the characters could not survive without cooperating to gather food and they worked toward the common goal of pleasing the goddess by being nice to one another. In time the characters ended up reconciling and forgiving, and succeeded in achieving an ideal community based on humanism. The confrontation between South and North Korea helped make the solution more dramatic.



South and Korean soldiers united under the goddess and set up rules to abide by while living on the island.

These soldiers used to hate each other, but now they were being good to be in favor of the goddess. Their sudden transformation into the goddess’s faithful worshippers made the audience burst out in laughter. A lie told to escape from the deserted island had brought about peace. War was forgotten for as long as they remained stranded. But the appearance of a South Korean reconnaissance ship rocked the trust they tried so hard to build up.

Tension and threat returned among them. The South Korean ship represented a chance of rescue for the South Korean soldiers, but fear of recapture for the North Koreans. When the ship neared the island, the two sides faced each other in confrontation again. But it was Ryu Sun-ho who disarmed the precarious situation with a brilliant solution. Musical director Park So-young explains.

Sun-ho was in hiding while the South Korean ship approached the island. He didn’t know how to turn the ship away, but that was when he met the goddess. She sang a duet with Sun-ho and he at last found himself and the courage to deal with the situation. He returned to his comrades and convinced them to work together to send back the ship.

The war had scarred Sun-ho and his comrades invented a fictional character to dupe him, but he ended up finding his true self and serving as an anchor that held all of them together.

While the South Korean scouting ship stayed offshore, the South and North Korean soldiers went their separate ways, wishing one another safe and happy return to their respective homes.

When everyone had gone his way the South Korean ship landed on the island. Whether the North Korean soldiers made it safely home or captured again, nobody knew. It was an open ending, left up to the audience to imagine a conclusion of their own liking. To all of us who still live in the state of truce and under the threat of war, the inter-Korean issues are open-ended just like the musical.

“The Goddess Is Watching” could have been a stale and rather somber production since it featured war and soldiers, but by including the character of a goddess, it turned into a romantic piece just as lovely as a romantic comedy. One’s heart fluttered just by listening to the scores of “The Goddess Is Watching.” Here’s the musical composer Lee Sun-young.

In the beginning when tension ran high the music was rather heavy and rhythmic, as was on the island when the characters acted more like animals rather than human beings. But the whole ambience changed when Captain Hahn creates a goddess for Sun-ho. Even in the middle of a war, enemies can come together under one value and gain comfort from believing in a common idea.

The music was played by a four-member band at one corner of the stage, creating an atmosphere much like a mini concert. Having been staged on a small theater, “The Goddess Is Watching” was not a grand or complex production. The cast members were all dressed in military uniforms, but the scenes of war or on the island were suggested with only a few props and dialogues. Despite the lack of realistic backgrounds or props, the whole production felt real. Not much was needed to arouse people’s interest in the inter-Korean issues when people were allowed to approach the problems with their emotions rather than the dichotomous friend-or-foe notion.

It has been sixty years since the Korean War ended with an armistice treaty. Those who lived through the war and still remember the tragedy are dying. As the terrible memories of the war die away, it was rather heartening to see a musical like “The Goddess Is Watching,” delivering a message of love and reconciliation, rather than something that portrayed the atrocities of war or ideological conflict. The musical showed Korea’s sad past to the post-war generations and bridged the gap between those who suffered through the war and those who has lived in peace. But above all “The Goddess Is Watching” helped us think deeply about the importance of peace.

- I was saddened when I realized that I live in a country still technically at war.
- Everyone came to an understanding at the end. So if both South and North Korea yielded a little, we could live in peace, without the threat of war.
- They showed that people could live in harmony even in the middle of war. I realized that even thought the two Koreas are separated now, we are still of one blood. I wish the two countries would be reunited soon.