Prohibition 1,2 Author: Hyung-Jin Jeon Publisher: Beyond Origin Publication Date: August 12, 2022

Korea's K-Culture is gaining ground worldwide. I never imagined that a Korean song would top the Billboard charts. When I was young, the influence of Japanese culture was very strong. The intense Japanese movies, music, and novels shook me. But now that Japan is crazy about K-Pop, and many locals flock to Shin-Okubo's Korean restaurants. In this era, content is emerging as the most important source of competition for cultural products. Oh, of course, Japanese culture is relatively weak compared to before, but it is still strong.

The awareness of the importance of content proceeds in the direction of encouraging the creation of new works. Jeon Jeon Jin-jin's novel 'Keumju-ryeong' won the Excellence Award in the story category at the 2021 Korea Content Awards. Also, it is said that the production of the drama has already been confirmed, but I hope it will succeed as a new K-Drama. Anyway, it was a historical novel that I read in a long time. It was quite a bit bigger than I thought. It is true that I was a little worried when I first started reading a book because novels usually come out in one short volume these days. But it was just a whim.

The background of this novel is the era of Yeongjo, the 21st king of the Joseon Dynasty. It was an era in which the Joseon Dynasty, which had been devastated by the war, was at least recovering a little bit of its national power. However, internally, it was politically confused due to Bungdang politics. In fact, Prohibition reminds us of Prohibition in the United States, because numerous stories set in this era stimulate our interest. Even the famous Al Capone made huge profits from Prohibition-era moonshine.

However, not many people know that alcohol prohibition was enforced even during the Joseon Dynasty. Although the ban on drinking was enforced when a new king ascended the throne, it was enforced very strongly during the reign of King Yeongjo. However, in fact, if you look at the other side of this ban, you can observe the purpose behind it. Although Prohibition was enforced extensively and strictly, it was in fact concentrated on officials rather than commoners. Therefore, this ban itself can be considered as part of strengthening royal authority. In fact, Yeongjo, who was born to a very lowly mother, had a lot of complexes. Due to the Bungdang politics, he had to be constantly checked by his subjects.

This novel draws a story based on such a historical background. As mentioned earlier, there is a lot of content set in the Prohibition era in the United States. The main story is the story of the bootlegging criminal organization, the corruption of public officials, and the crackdown team. However, similar things happened under the ban on alcohol during the reign of King Yeongjo. The artist put a lot of effort into researching the restoration of that era and described it in writing. The appearance of various characters such as the criminal organization Geomgye of the Joseon Dynasty, Geumranbang, and Myojeok arouses interest.

I think it's an interesting historical novel to read. Volumes 1 and 2 are not burdensome. It is said that it will be made into a drama soon, so if you read the original novel and then watch it, you will naturally understand the difference between the drama and the novel. I recommend you read it once.