South Korean author Cho Nam-joo’s novel Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 was an international bestseller that highlighted the deeply entrenched sexism faced by women in South Korean society. It was sharp-toothed and well timed, becoming part of the cultural kindling that sparked the South Korean #MeToo movement.
In Saha, Cho has once again drawn attention to a quietly accepted societal ill: here, the exploited underclass that keeps the economy running. Saha is a dystopian vision of an authoritarian, hyper-capitalist country strictly divided along class lines. The eponymous Saha Estates is a fenced-off, left-behind housing estate populated by piecemeal workers with no legal rights. It is marooned within Town, “an odd city-state that was not quite company or country”. Town is run by the shadowy, unelected Council of Ministers, who have cemented their position through a period of brutal martial law, and who control the populace by means of a hierarchical citizenship system: you are designated L if you are a citizen, L2 if you have a temporary visa or Saha if you have no chance of either.
