Plot Summary

The Disaster Tourist by Yun Ko-Eun begins with Yona wrapping up an assignment for her company, Jungle, located in Jinhae, South Korea. Yona’s objective during her time in Jinhae is to scope out the city and its occupants after a devastating tsunami hit the city and displaced many occupants. 

As Yona returns back to headquarters, there is a noticeable shift in the treatment she is receiving in the office. “The chair she sat in each morning was definitely hers, but for some reason, sitting in it was awkward, like this was the first time she’d ever touched the pieces of furniture.” (Yun 10). Experiencing demeaning behavior and sexual harassment from her superior, Yona attempts to resign from her position. Declining her resignation letter, Yona is then highly advised to take a holiday in which she is tasked to review one of the pre-existing travel packages at Jungle that is declining in popularity. “You pick one of these, and we’ll cover the entire trip like it’s a business expense. After you come back, all you have to do is write a one-page report about your travels.” (Yun 24).  

Once arrived at her destination, an island called Mui off the coast of Vietnam, Yona is quick to realize that the package is lackluster as the “disaster” of the location is a sinkhole that occurred over 50 years ago. “When Yona glanced at the itinerary, everything looked dull.” (Yun 49).  Yona’s trip is extended as she is separated from the guide and loses her passport and wallet. However, her extra time spent on Mui provides a different view of the island. Instead of seeming like an outdated resort, Mui is a struggling community solely dependent on the profits of the Jungle Package. 

As Mui is socio-economically controlled by Paul, an import corporation, in order to save the financial status of the island, the manager of the resort is planning to stage two disastrous sinkholes. Already laying out the number of casualties and post-sinkhole interviews, Yona finds herself involved in creating the perfect travel package for Mui. 

Seeing the actuality of the Mui situation, Yona is left to justify the ethical justifications of her livelihood and the permanent damage to the environment. 

Context

One of the driving factors in The Disaster Tourist is in its title: Disaster Tourism. “It's a phenomenon that's on the rise as established sites such as Auschwitz and the September 11 museum in Manhattan enjoy record visitor numbers. Meanwhile, demand is rising among those more intrepid dark tourists who want to venture to the fallout zones of Chernobyl and Fukushima, as well as North Korea and Rwanda.” (Usborne). In the novel, multiple characters show what can be deemed as an “unethical” reason to participate in the travel package to Mui. Even Yona came to the Vietnamese island under the assignment to gauge the worth of the attraction. Her employer, Jungle, profits off the disasters that occur throughout the world. The attraction of previous sites of fatalities is something that is not unknown to society today. “Stone considers the Roman Colosseum to be one of the first dark tourist sites, where people traveled long distances to watch death as sport. Later, until the late 18th century, the appeal was starker still in central London, where people paid money to sit in grandstands to watch mass executions.” (Usborne) 

“‘It’s too scary to visit disaster destinations close to home,’ Yona explained. ‘Don’t we need to be distanced somewhat from our ordinary lives – from the blankets we sleep under, and the bowls we eat from every day – in order to see the situation more objectively?’” (Yun 49) 

Disaster tourism was first referred to as “Dark Tourism”. It was initially included in the academic world in 1996 from the University of Glasgow. Along with the development of dark tourism was the rise of decay culture, a fascination in ruins oftenly found in pictures posted in mainstream media. “Peter Hohenhaus, a widely traveled dark tourist based in Vienna, also points to the broader rise in off-the-beaten track tourism, beyond the territory of popular guidebooks and TripAdvisor rankings.”(Usborne)