Lee Jung-Gil

> 날개 없는 말이 천 리를 간다우
>
> (Words have no wings, but they can fly a thousand miles.)
>
> Lee Jung-Gil, in Season 4, Episode 10, "Perestroika"

**Lee Jung-Gil** is a North Korean ujunaut who was sent to Mars through what was believed to be an uncrewed probe, becoming the first person on Mars.

## History

### Season 3

#### First human on Mars

During the Race to Mars, North Korea sent a probe to Mars, which was believed to be unmanned. While Helios, NASA, and Roscosmos were racing to be first, the North Koreans quietly reached the red planet first on February 8, 1995, and unbeknownst to the rest of the world, Lee Jung-Gil was the first human to step foot on Mars.

Upon landing, Lee survived but his comrade, Park Chol was killed upon impact. After burying him, Lee attempted to transmit his arrival, but to no avail. For the next seven months, he would fill his time with attempts to fix the communication issues and taking over 130 soil samples. Breaking his arm in one attempt after falling off the capsule. At night he would listen to 'Arizona Cowboys' on a cassette player while eating his rations. The time alone would take its toll on his mental health, with a lockbox containing a pistol always present. Although he took strength from a photo of his wife.

While collecting his 134th soil sample, he would take some humor from the impression his knees made in the martian soil, drawing a smile under it, before breaking into manic laughter. Upon his return to the capsule, his cassette player slowly wound down and stopped, causing him to impulsively break it against the console. Now with no hope of rescue, his food stores running low and his only form of entertainment gone. He opened the box. The next morning he went to a nearby ridge and looked over the martian landscape before kneeling. He would take out a photo of his wife and the pistol, sobbing as he did. Before he could end his life, he took one last look at the photo, noticing Danielle Poole and Grigory Kuznetsov approaching with a rover. Upon their arrival, he approached them at gunpoint.

#### Rescue

After noticing the smiley face Lee had drawn previously, Danielle tried to communicate with him through gestures and drawings of her own. While he was distracted, Grigory managed to overpower him and rip off his oxygen hose. Grigory took his gun while Danielle reattached the oxygen. They then tied him up and brought him to Happy Valley on the rover's loading platform, after burying his gun in the Martian sand.

Ed Baldwin, who knew a little Korean from his time in the Korean WarW, tried to talk to him, but Lee insisted on being brought back to his "home". After being told that this will be his new home. He seemed confused, especially as Ed had called him "my good dumpling" in his limited Korean, but later on, he is seen communicating with his wife back on Earth.

### Season 4

#### Homecoming and return to Mars

Lee and the other crewmembers faced strict rationing and starvation during their prolonged stay at Happy Valley. To pass the time, he tutored Ed in Korean, while Ed taught him English.
Lee eventually made his way back home, along with the other members of Happy Valley. When he arrived back to North Korea, he was given a heroes welcome, being formally recognized as the first man to step foot on Mars.

In 2003, Lee returned to Mars, though under a watchful eye of fellow North Koreans. When Poole tried to greet Lee, he was ordered to act properly by Commander Cho Byung Ho, simply stating "Nice to see you" before walking off.

After Miles Dale faked a methane leak in the North Korean section of Happy Valley as a ruse to obtain a thermostat for Ilya Breshov's illegal still. Lee discovered Miles in the act, at first believing him to be planting a listening device, before allowing Miles to take the thermostat if he worked for him. Stating that he had eyes all over the base and knew of Breshov's smuggling ring. He utilised this control over Miles and Breshov to ask for his wife to be smuggled to Happy Valley.

Ilya strings him along, taking his new business, but knowing that he will not be able to actually free his wife. After Ilya cuts Miles out of the smuggling ring, due to Miles having taken on extra work against his wishes. Miles reveals this information to Lee, who responds with anger. Due to this anger, he helps Miles take over the smuggling operation in exchange for continuing to help with his wife. Utilising other North Korean's to beat Petros Khorenatsi, Ilya's employee in the loading dock. As well as intimidating Ilya into handing over the bar to Miles.

Miles and Ed later ask him for help in the theft of Goldilocks by piggybacking off the secret North Korean video feed of the base. He asks Miles how the plan to smuggle his wife is going, he responds that it is one thing to get his wife out of North Korea, but another to get her on a shuttle. But he is still trying. Lee at first refuses to help, calling it dangerous. But Ed manages to convince him by saying that a Martian colony is necessary for the long term safety of he and his wife. Unfortunately, the device Lee plants is discovered by Commander Cho who believing it to be an American device, confronts Happy Valley commander Danielle. Lee helps translate, and while Cho is furious, Lee softens his message. Cho is disappointed with her responses, exclaiming to Lee that he will investigate himself. But not before mentioning Miles Dale. This makes Danielle suspicious and she looks into the device further. Before Lee leaves, she asks how he and Moon Yeong, his wife, are doing, he responds by stating that he is homesick and misses her, but she says they'll both be home soon.

Cho continues the investigation, discovering the location of Ghost Ops in the lower levels. By correctly deducing that if Miles got on an elevator and didn't leave it, he must be in the restricted section of the base. Following the lead he finds the conspirators, but not before being hit from behind by Lee. A short fight ensues, Lee choking Cho unconscious, but not before Cho sees Lee's face.

Lee checks Cho's vital signs and realises that he will need medical attention. Gerardo Ortiz-Niño argues against this as Cho has seen his face. After Holly Edmondson agrees with Lee, stating without help he could die. Ed says he will need to be taken. Lee tells Gerardo he will take him. He will tell Dr Dimitri Mayakovsky that it was cargo loader accident. Before he leaves, Ed tells him in Korean that it will be okay.

After Miles is tortured by KGB and CIA agents Timur Avilov and Mike Bishop, he reveals the location of Ghost Ops. Everyone but Gerardo is able to get out in time as the security team search for them, taking refuge in the North Korean sector. Lee's compatriots argue about the foreigners on their territory, but he manages to send them away by stating his authority due to Cho's illness. The conspirators begin to brain storm an idea. Ed realizes that there is a S-Band transmitter in the sector, which allows any North Korean member on a joint mission to communicate with their superiors privately. Dev explains that if Samantha can make her way to the remote overrides to the engines and place a transceiver on it, he can take control of the engines again. Lee communicates with Park Chui Moo, the science officer on *Ranger* who gives Samantha headphones to talk to Dev.

The commander of Happy Valley, Danielle Poole realizes that the conspirators must be in the North Korean sector. She radios Lee, who answers in deliberately broken English, but she see's through the ruse, asking to be put onto Ed. She and Ed argue, Danielle believing that their future lies on Earth. But Ed says that his family and future are on Mars. After he hangs up, Lee and Ed converse in Korean. Lee offers up a proverb, before Ed restates that his home is on Mars. Lee agrees and say his is too.

The conspirators manage to bring Goldilocks into Martian orbit, but Bishop has received orders to storm the North Korean sector by force. Lee orders his compatriots to hold them off, and they try to hold the door shut. The security team blasts the door, but before they can get in, the rest of the Helios workers who are led by a newly freed Miles attack. During the riot, Danielle is shot by Nate Lowry who had found the pistol Lee had once tried to end his life with. She survives, but it is enough to end the riot.

Later, Lee waits at the loading bay for his wife. When the two see each other, they break into tears and embrace in their new home.

## Galleries

### 1995

The first footsteps on MarsArrival on MarsAttempting to contact EarthAttempting to fix communicationsSoil SamplesPistol of last resortDiscovering he is not aloneLee Jung-Gil when discovered on MarsTied on the roverArriving at Happy ValleyMoon Yeong, Lee Jung-Gil's wifeWatching his wife's video messageAround late 1995DPRK patch 1994/95
### 2003

Lee is celebrated in North KoreaLee Jung-Gil 2003Lee Jung-Gil with IlyaLee and Moon YeongBeating PetrosBeing asked to utilise the North Korean feedTranslating Cho's concernsTalking to Danielle about his wifeLee chokes Cho
## See also

* Park Chol
* Cho Byung Ho
* Nam Moon Yeong
* North Korean capsule
* North Korea space program

## References

1. ↑ *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 3, Episode 4: "Happy Valley"
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 3, Episode 10: "Stranger in a Strange Land"
3. ↑   Arizona Cowboy on YouTube
4. ↑ *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 3, Episode 9: "Coming Home"
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 4, Episode 5: "Goldilocks"
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 4, Episode 2: "Have A Nice Sol"
7. ↑ *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 4, Episode 3: "The Bear Hug"
8. ↑ *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 4, Episode 6: "Leningrad"
9. ↑ *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 4, Episode 9: "Brazil"
10. ↑ *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 4, Episode 10: "Perestroika"