DP Dog Day 1
DP Dog Day 2
DP Dog Day 3
DP Dog Day 4

Why did they have to desert?

People probably don't know how many deserters there are in a year.
Because it happens in a world that has nothing to do with me.
To most people, deserters are like aliens or ghosts.
I've only heard stories, no one has ever seen it.

"DP-Dog Day" is based on the author Kim Bo-tong's own experience as a DP who was drafted from the military police during his military service.
The character of Ahn Jun-ho, who reflects the author's image, initially accepts the DP offer because he doesn't want to do military service, but as he chases and catches deserters, he gradually opens his eyes to the absurdity of the world he belongs to.

As the story goes, most desertions occur when people delay returning from vacation because they want to “play one more game or have one more drink.”
The process of being caught sleeping in a sauna wearing a military ID tag and being tracked down through PC room access records, which is not consistent with the weight of the word 'desertion', is also amusing.
The problem is with other desertions.
“Just as I am not particularly good in chasing deserters, deserters are not particularly evil in deserting.
“The situation that led him to decide to desert did not come to me.”

Military-related incidents and accidents continue to occur, such as Private Yoon, who died after suffering from habitual assault by his seniors, and Sergeant Lim, who killed five people by shooting at a GOP.
In this military environment, even though 'an average of 700 people a year' desert, deserters are still treated as 'alien or ghost-like beings.'
The news of desertions is simply a threat to our peaceful daily lives.
"DP - Dog Day" depicts the reality of desertion, a crime that is not a crime, from two perspectives: the perspective of the deserter who ran away and the perspective of the DP chasing him.
Amidst the daily routine of beatings, verbal abuse, being forced to wear gas masks for snoring, and being fed insects for no reason, deserters have no choice but to run away.
DP, who is also a private, has no choice but to run around trying to catch deserters to avoid violence from his seniors and reprimands from his superiors.
The process of finding a deserter is also the process of finding the reason for the desertion, but An Jun-ho feels deeply skeptical about all of this.
He returns and tells of a deserter who "ran away to avoid killing someone."
Those who commit cruel acts will be punished, but that's all, someone will desert again.

The power of living characters and details based on the author's autobiographical story

The realistic directing and realistic character portrayal, set in the fictional 103rd Division, are also outstanding.
Because he is a DP who grows his hair long, wears civilian clothes, and acts like a civilian, unlike a soldier, and because he himself is being 'bullied' by his senior soldiers and tries to get out of the barracks somehow, Ahn Jun-ho is on the border between soldier and civilian, between those who have deserted and those who have not.
At first, he was only interested in capturing deserters for the sake of achievements and performance, but as he followed the deserters' movements, he sympathized with their suffering and became angry at the helpless reality.
It is interesting to see how the character of Ahn Jun-ho changes from 'How to catch him' to 'Why must we catch him?' and from 'He's not in his right mind, so he's deserting' to 'I can't stand it without deserting.'
In addition, the playful but quick-witted and quick-witted Private Park Sung-jun, who carries out his duties as DP, and Sergeant Park Beom-gu, a desertion officer who finds desertion and problems within the military annoying and whose only goal is promotion, add to the fun of watching the work.
Above all, the vivid details of the military police's internal affairs and the process of tracking down deserters, based on the author's own DP life, are what differentiates "DP - Dog Days" from other military works.


The Army Within Us, the Absurdity Within Us

“Isn’t that so amazing?
"You're saying they're going back to something like this? Frankly, I can't believe they're an organization preparing for war."

The 'Korean-style military', characterized by unconditional obedience to orders and rigid decision-making without communication, inevitably contains many problems.
Under the pretext of establishing military hierarchy, commonly referred to as 'military discipline,' military abuses such as violence and sexual harassment are passed down from generation to generation.
While people fret over the issue of military bonus points and the issue of the wealthy and celebrities dodging military service, most people are concerned about the problems of the military system itself, which exposes countless young people to physical and mental violence, but do not speak out loudly.
“You become a ‘real man’ after serving in the military,” he says, and only uses the military as a joke.
However, military culture extends beyond the military and into society, and the coercion and violence that senior soldiers inflict on junior soldiers are reproduced in groups large and small, such as homes, workplaces, and local communities.
This 'military force' latent within Korean society eventually comes back to life like a ghost targeting an unspecified number of relatively weak people - subordinates, juniors, subordinates, subcontractors, women, foreigners, and all the 'eul' in society.
This is why military issues cannot be viewed as issues confined to the military.


Author Kim Bo-tong says, “Times have changed, but what happens in the military hasn’t changed much.”
The gap between the growth of human rights awareness outside the military and the reality of human rights within the military is widening day by day, and it is not only the soldiers themselves who are suffering in the midst of this.
All members of this society who have them as sons, brothers, friends, and lovers.
The story of author Kim Bo-tong, who says that he was forced to act as a border guard while moving between the inside and outside of the military, is all the more heartbreaking.
"DP-Dog Day" is the author's confession of having no choice but to stand by and watch absurdity and violence, and is a heartfelt message that all of us, who ultimately cannot help but be either perpetrators, victims, or bystanders, must reflect on.