Cartoonist’s Soul Food
Naengmyeon with Park Soon-chan, the artist who strikes the world with a ‘Sledgehammer’

[BizHanKook] If the key ingredient or cooking element that defines a dish is called a “kick,” then the “kick” in a newspaper must be the single-panel caricature or four-panel editorial cartoon. From the very first Korean cartoon, an “illustration” by Lee Do-yeong featured in the inaugural issue of ‘Daehan Minbo,’ to ‘Go-bau Yeonggam,’ ‘Walsun Ajimae,’ ‘Tteokkeobi,’ ‘Yaro-ssi,’ and the ‘Hankyoreh Grimpan,’ editorial cartoons have served as a window through which the public views the world and a channel that gives voice to their sentiments.

Standing at the forefront of this long-standing newspaper tradition is the ‘Jangdori’ (Sledgehammer) by Park Soon-chan, an artist renowned for his paradigm-breaking ideas and depictions. ‘Jangdori’ began serializing in the ‘Kyunghyang Shinmun’ on February 6, 1995, and continued for 26 years until May 24, 2021. It was a journey that turned a 25-year-old aspiring artist into a middle-aged veteran. Since then, he has moved to online platforms where creative constraints are fewer, continuing to present biting social critiques characterized by sharpened satire and humor.

I met Park Soon-chan, who has relentlessly struck “one blow” with his ‘Sledgehammer’ at those “seated on high” from the public’s perspective, at a naengmyeon (cold noodle) restaurant near Wonreung Station on the Gyoe-oe Line.

A ‘Naengmyeon Excursion’ from Hamhung through Pyongyang to the Present

The naengmyeon restaurant, chosen in hopes of avoiding the long lines of peak dinner hours, was already bustling with people who had the same idea. Just as one might flip through the pages of a newspaper looking for a cartoon, people will seek out a “tasty spot” even if it is in a remote location.

This place, a regular haunt for the artist, serves buckwheat naengmyeon piled high with julienned cucumber and pear, much like a four-panel cartoon. The fragrance and crunchy texture of the cucumber were the “kick.” Unlike typical buckwheat noodles that are overly chewy or sharply seasoned with strong flavors, these noodles offered a perfectly chewy texture that harmonized with the generous amount of sesame, cucumber, and pear, delivering both a refreshing umami and a satisfying, substantial punch. Park noted that while there is an overflow of places selling naengmyeon with spicy, sweet, and aggressive flavors following the rise of the buckwheat noodle trend, this restaurant has found an excellent balance, resulting in high quality.

The first naengmyeon the noodle-loving artist encountered was the Hamhung-style naengmyeon in the Watch Alley of Yeji-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul. At that place, where ‘Yetnaljip’ and ‘Hamhung Gombo Naengmyeon’ stood side by side, not only was the spicy, sour, and sweet taste of the noodles top-tier, but the warm atmosphere of the alley—enhanced by the hot broth—was also charming. Captivated by that allure, the artist frequented the Watch Alley for a while, and in the early 1990s, he tasted Pyongyang naengmyeon for the first time in Yeonhui-dong. It was a famous restaurant often visited by elderly people from North Korea, but it didn't suit the artist's palate at all. He managed to eat it by adding vinegar and sugar, but he recalls thinking the whole time, “Why do people eat this?”

However, as years passed, he found himself suddenly drawn to the plain, subtle flavors of Pyongyang naengmyeon. He became so infatuated that he even visited an old establishment in Uijeongbu that represents a branch of the Pyongyang naengmyeon lineage. Around that time, he discovered his “life-changing” Pyongyang naengmyeon in Mok-dong, Seoul. The artist believes that bowl might be the closest in taste to authentic North Korean naengmyeon, and he urged the two writers—both Pyongyang naengmyeon fanatics—to visit it without fail.

The artist, once a Pyongyang naengmyeon enthusiast, now enjoys naengmyeon itself with ease. Having toured noodle houses of various lineages from Hamhung to Pyongyang, he seems to have reached the essence of “naengmyeon.” Perhaps the true world of naengmyeon, which the artist has reached, is precisely the calm mindset of seeking out this buckwheat naengmyeon as a midsummer delicacy with a light heart and light steps.

Regretting the Era Where Substance Vanishes and Only Style Remains

When discussing old restaurants that have been passed down for three or four generations, the conversation naturally drifts toward places that have disappeared. This is because everyone harbors regret for places where the tradition of taste was broken. The artist brought up the story of a Chinese restaurant in front of the Kyunghyang Shinmun building where he used to serialize ‘Jangdori.’ It was a place known for great hand-pulled noodles with large chunks of potatoes, but it closed when the owner’s health deteriorated. The same goes for a hangover soup place near Dongdaemun. That place, which served broth flavored with soy sauce and loaded with hearty cabbage and beef, shut down as the grandmother’s energy faded.

Just as people are born and pass away, the rise and fall of restaurants is natural. However, the reason such regret remains is that simple, mass-produced food has filled the void left by labor-intensive dishes. It is because only the style—an imitation of the appearance—remains, rather than any genuine concern for the essence.

The artist’s deep regret for disappeared eateries has bled into his cartoons. “It’s difficult to define what a ‘Korean cartoon’ is. In Japan, you can trace it back to Ukiyo-e and find continuity between genres and styles. In comparison, because we went through wars and various upheavals, there are many regrettable aspects in terms of continuity.”

Developing a temperament to overcome difficulties and adapt quickly to change while experiencing colonization, war, and rapid industrialization is a shining achievement of K-culture; however, it is also true that many things could not be packed into refugees' bundles and were left behind. The reflection on the essence of culture and the challenges of succession and accumulation stem from the regret left by the severance of both taste and the art form itself.

“The reason for satirizing changes with every era. The era when Honoré Daumier (1808–1879, a satirical artist who laid the foundation for early humorous reality satire) drew cartoons is different from now. Back then, there was meaning in simply exposing and showing existences that couldn't be seen through images, but today, there are too many images. I believe we need to find a new approach. That is the only way people doing this work can stay interested and find meaning. Simple bashing might be fun for a moment, but it’s hard to sustain for long.”

The charm of ‘Jangdori’ lies in its ability to pierce the essence of a problem without falling into the pleasure of contempt and mockery. By not crossing the line between satire and ridicule, or humor and scorn, it remains both incisive and clean. When asked about his secret to not crossing the line in satire, he replied that he views politicians as the condensation of people’s desires and tendencies, and draws them as if looking into a mirror of ourselves. He says that when he draws a former president forcing others to drink, he does so with the hope that the people around him—who resemble that figure—will reflect on themselves. If a specific power figure is the tip of an iceberg above the water, ‘Jangdori’ gazes intensely at the vast, hidden structure of desire beneath the surface rather than merely pouring out fragmented anger.

“If You Put on Airs, That’s the End of It”

Artist Park Soon-chan drew attention by introducing the ‘Jangdori Soap Opera Series,’ which applied a novel method of social satire after moving his platform online. Series like ‘Yundori,’ ‘Gandori,’ ‘Attack on the Search Party,’ ‘Yongsan Giants,’ and ‘Game of Kings’ showed a different pacing than the four-panel newspaper format, and his non-stereotypical character depictions provided great humor.

Of course, even during his newspaper serialization, ‘Jangdori’ experimented with pop culture parodies and did not allow itself to be crushed by the weight of being a “newspaper editorial cartoon.” The ‘Jangdori’ from May 14, 2023, which mocked a high-ranking official who committed sexual harassment during a diplomatic mission as a “Giant of Shamelessness,” is still talked about today as a masterpiece of satire. The scene, which parodied the then-viral Japanese anime ‘Attack on Titan,’ was, in the literal sense, groundbreaking.

“Cartoons should be approached comfortably and meet the reader in an appropriate way; if you put on airs, that’s where it ends. Distinguishing it by the term ‘editorial cartoon’ is not appropriate either. You can just call it a cartoon; adding modifiers is just granting unnecessary authority. The single-panel or four-panel newspaper format was determined by editorial efficiency, but there’s no need to be limited to that anymore. The idea that ‘it must be serialized because it has the authority of a newspaper cartoon’ even if readers aren't watching—that doesn't exist anymore.”

The artist’s philosophy—that cartoons no longer need to be limited to media formats and should not be confined by unnecessary authority—succinctly captures the attitude with which Park and his cartoons have observed and reflected the world. He emphasized that in this day and age, where cartoons need not be constrained by media or form, the most important thing is that the artist's commentary carries value that can draw the interest and empathy of the reader, adding that his own work is “done once you just call it a cartoon.”

‘Hwanjaeng’ and Beyond, Toward Complete Creation

Although he previously published ‘Cartoon Park Chung-hee’ together with the late artist Baek Moo-hyun, his first solo feature-length work is ‘Hwanjaeng,’ which features Korea’s first cartoonist, Kwanjae Lee Do-yeong, as the protagonist. ‘Hwanjaeng’ is a work he drew while participating in the ‘100 Independent Activist Webtoon Project,’ and it deals with Lee, who fought against Imperial Japan through his drawings. Lee Do-yeong serialized cartoons starting from the first issue of ‘Daehan Minbo,’ shedding light on the national reality while also launching scathing critiques at traitors like Lee Wan-yong. His cartoons, which even featured the Jade Emperor being scolded, captured the anger of the people whose sovereignty had been usurped by foreign powers.

Artist Park Soon-chan attempted to connect the brief, historically sparse records of Lee Do-yeong with his own cartoonistic imagination to give them contemporary meaning. He said that seeing how Lee’s cartoons, printed in the center of the first page of ‘Daehan Minbo,’ fearlessly criticized pro-Japanese factions, made him think of the shock people must have felt at the time, drawing a parallel to the emergence of new media like YouTube today. The scenes in the story where characters deem Lee’s caricatures as vulgar and curse at them are a metaphor for how legacy media currently looks down on new media like YouTube. The artist’s philosophy—that historical works should not be mere recreations of the past but should be representations connected to current relevance so that people living in the present can empathize—is well-integrated into the work.

The artist tried to break away from the standardized mold of educational cartoons to ensure readers could feel both fun and meaning in ‘Hwanjaeng.’ Thanks to this, he is glad that ‘Korea’s first cartoonist’ can now be vividly remembered through the joy of the medium.

When asked about his future plans, Park Soon-chan said that since both ‘Cartoon Park Chung-hee’ and ‘Hwanjaeng’ dealt with real-life figures, he wants to draw a cartoon with his own original story and characters. While he hasn't decided on a specific genre yet, his works—which always pack a “punch”—are highly anticipated.