Financial Authorities Leaders' Two-Person Two-Color Reading... Lee Bok-hyun 'Spy' · Kim So-young 'Finance'

Vice Chair Kim So-Young on Vacation
Lee Bok-Hyun Reading John le Carr? Novels
Also Recommends Classic Detective Works by Agatha Christie

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The differing reading styles of deputy-level officials in the financial authorities have drawn attention. Kim So-young, Vice Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, an economics professor and known as President Yoon Seok-yeol's 'economic strategist,' is reportedly planning to read financial books. Lee Bok-hyun, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, recently read spy novels and recommended them to those around him.

According to the industry on the 1st, Vice Chairman Kim, who is on vacation, is said to plan to read financial-related books and academic papers during her break. Governor Lee recently read John le Carr?'s "Smiley's People" and Agatha Christie's "Hallowe'en Party," recommending them to those around him. Their book choices reveal their identities as an economist and a former prosecutor, attracting attention.

The works recommended by Governor Lee are considered classics in the spy and detective novel genres, respectively. In particular, John le Carr? has a strong fan base in the spy novel field. He is a figure who, along with Ian Fleming, made a mark when detective novels specialized into spy novels after the Cold War era. While Ian Fleming created '007 James Bond,' John le Carr? featured 'Smiley,' a small, fat, bespectacled man, as the protagonist. John le Carr? is famous for works that show realistic descriptions, intricate stories, realistic characters, and human insights.

"Smiley's People" tells the story of the final confrontation between the protagonist (George Smiley) and the Russian intelligence power 'Karla.' Smiley is a legendary agent who retired with his colleagues for political reasons in 1979 when US-Soviet relations shifted to d?tente. He one day hears of the death of General Vladimir, who defected from Estonia to the Western world. The general was Smiley's key informant during the Cold War and was defected by Smiley.

Smiley feels a sense of debt over the general's death and investigates the case. He learns that before his death, the general tried to contact Smiley and attempted to hand over secret documents. Smiley searches for those involved in delivering the secret documents, but all are deceased. He also discovers that behind the deaths is his lifelong nemesis and KGB member 'Karla.'

Although the novel wears the guise of a spy novel, it is not a hero story about fighting for a cause. As the Cold War era ends, the era's justice disappears. With the world's rules changing, the British intelligence organization also disintegrated. The espionage war for a greater cause is now a thing of the past. Smiley and his people, who worked in the shadows, are living out their remaining lives in the shadows of the era.

Reagan, who had pursued a tough military policy against the Soviet Union, effectively held a summit with Soviet Communist Party General Secretary Gorbachev as the collapse of the Eastern Bloc became a reality, officially declaring the end of the Cold War. Photo by history.com

During the search for the secret documents, Smiley meets a woman in her 20s named 'Alexandra (Tatiana).' She was a mentally ill person adopted to France by Russian intelligence two weeks earlier. Why did Russian intelligence send her to France and then to Switzerland? The entire story begins with her. And the real story the author wants to tell is contained here.

The spy who once dominated an era out of loyalty to the nation and a sense of mission for the era's justice no longer exists. Legendary spies dominated their respective camps but were abandoned by the era. In this work, Smiley and Karla act according to their own motives. The world they belong to is one where people cannot be trusted and do not trust others. The only beings these spies can face without masks are their loved ones. Smiley feels sympathy for his nemesis Karla, who, though from a different camp, has lived a life similar to his own.

"Smiley's People" is the last work in John le Carr?'s 'Karla Trilogy.' Among the works that include "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy," "The Honourable Schoolboy," and "Smiley's People," it is also the most humanistic.