“A fire at the nuclear power plant!”
A vivid children’s story about a 3-day disaster brought about by a fire at a nuclear power plant
One unsuspecting summer day, a fire breaks out in the Komuk nuclear power plant. Everyone near the plant is evacuated, but those living 30 kilometers away are conflicted. Is it safe to stay, or do they risk radioactive contamination by not evacuating? As they weigh their options, things go from bad to worse…
30 Km is a disaster story about what would happen if a nuclear accident were to happen in South Korea. Set in a small town thirty kilometers away from the epicenter, this book depicts in vivid detail and from a new perspective the severity of nuclear disasters through the 3-day endeavor of a town’s people who must deal with the aftermath of a fire at a nuclear power plant. Chanwoo, who is left behind after the fire, his father, a worker at the plant, and Minji, whose family owns the supermarket—30 Km tells the heart-warming story of three characters and their courageous efforts to save one another.
Minji and Chanwoo, who live 30 kilometers from the nuclear power plant that caught fire, cannot evacuate even if they wanted to. Chanwoo, who lives with his father, a worker at the nuclear power plant, cannot find his father after the fire. And Minji, who family owns the supermarket, has become stuck in town with her father because her mother, who wanted to evacuate before the reactor blew, disagreed with her father who said he wasn’t going to leave the store behind. Being stuck in a disaster unable to make decisions because you are a child and can’t drive, have no money, and cannot access reliable information, does not apply only to Minji and Chunwoo. But 30 Km is special in that it depicts the process of children facing real-world limitations by not backing down and acting courageous so that they can overcome their crisis by calmy understanding the situation and helping others. The work particularly shines in the way it juxtaposes children with adults who, despite being able to make logical judgements and act altruistically, instead do selfish things and turn their back on the people who love and need them because they are too busy chasing other things.