:: S/N Korean Humanities ::

Kim Hak-Ch’ŏl (1916-2001) was the “last squad commander” of the Korean Volunteer Army as well as being the main intellect within the community of ethnic Koreans in China (Chosŏnchok) and a master in the world of Korean-Chinese literature. He lived one half of his life as a hero and the other half as a ‘traitor”, so research into his work could not help but go through tumultuous times. After liberation, some critics became interested in Kim’s novels that dealt with the life and experience as a member of the Korean Volunteer Army, however, after he moved to North Korea thus rendering his works inaccessible, research on his work could not take place. However, his writing activities when in Beijing and Yanbian garnered attention from critics and he was noted for his uniqueness. But as a result of the Anti-Rightist Movement in 1957, he ended up living a hellish life for the next 24 years. Research on his work was revived only after reforms were introduced and the writer started to gain attention also in South Korea and Japan. In this article, we will review existing research that had been performed on his life and literature in Korea, Japan and China, and propose some areas that need to be researched further in the future.

Feature Articles

Capitals of the Korean Meta-nation: An archipelago of Hyperand Shadow-Capitals

Valerie Gelezeau

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.5 No.2 pp.13-31

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2019.5.2.13

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Abstract

This paper discusses the Korean urban space by focusing on capital cities and how they structure the Korean “meta-nation”, i.e. this very unique cultural space, attached to the locus of the Korean peninsula and coherent over the historical longue duree, currently split into two States and fragmented into great diasporic communities, which positions are determined by political polarization. It is based on the analysis of geographical discourse on Korean “capital cities”, and “capitalness”, as the quality of some cities able to take on the power that comes with a central political role, even if they are not or no longer the current capital, in various secondary sources in English and Korean. Next to the great capitals of Korean geo-history (hyper-capitals of the present States, Pyongyang and Seoul, or legitimizing historical capital cities such as Kaesong and Kyŏngju), de-capitalized cities such as Suwŏn, forgotten or marginalized capitals, such as Puyo, or Kongju) form an archipelago of capitals. This archipelago of “hyper-capitals” and “shadow capitals” is scattered not only across the peninsula itself, but is also connected to many capital cities of the Korean diaspora: from the North American diaspora’s Koreatown in Los Angeles to the Central Asian diaspora’s Almaty in Kazakhstan.

Feature Articles

Thoughts on Reunification by a Historian of Praxis : Kang Man-Kil’s ‘Reunification Nationalism’ And ‘Theory of Equitable Reunification’

Park, Min-Cheol

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.1 No.1 pp.15-38

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2015.1.1.15

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Abstract

Kang Man-Kil is the first historian to position overcoming of division and reunification of the Korean peninsula as the most important scholarly topic. The overall structure of his historiography is constructed of: first, gaining a penetrative historical perspective on the Age of National Division, and second, establishing a new historical framework that can overcome division. These two themes can be encapsulated into his term, ‘reunification nationalism’. ‘Reunification nationalism’ is the rightful guiding ideology for the Korean society, contributing to overcoming division and reunifying the nation. Kang’s reunification nationalism is meaningful in three ways: 1. It is an ‘alternative historiography’, in which the national united front movement based on negotiations between left and right wings since the colonial period is seen as the mainstream of national history. 2. It recognizes the entire Peninsula as one national unit and it is an ‘anti-divisionist historical perception’ that considers all Peninsula citizens to be agents of historical development. 3. All Peninsula citizens are seen to constitute one historical and cultural community, and it is meaningful as a ‘reunification theory’ based on peaceful, reciprocal and equitable methods. In sum, the above-mentioned three aspects of reunification nationalism form the basis of the details of Kang Man-Kil’s reunification nationalism, which is his ‘theory of equitable reunification’.

Feature Articles

“Comfort Women”: Historical Agony and Practical Tasks

Xu Mingzhe

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.3 No.1 pp.15-30

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2017.3.1.15

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Abstract

While more than seventy years have passed since liberation from Japanese colonial rule, the problems rooted in Japanese wartime aggression, including the issue of “comfort women,” remain unsettled due to the misperceived historical notion on the part of the Japanese government. The existence of the “comfort women” system has been commonly acknowledged as a fact by many and while the Japanese government acknowledged the existence of comfort women and comfort stations in the “Kono Statement,” the current administration of Shinzo Abe is denying Japan’s liability and compensation. First, we must contemplate again the meaning of the comfort women issue and the significance of resolving the issue. At the same time, we must endeavor not to leave imperial Japan’s inhumane activities and crime against humanity in the past and approach the comfort women issue to protect peace and justice and serve it as a warning to Japanese militarism which is currently on the rise. If we continue to fail in solving issues caused by the war, building a correct perception of history and securing peace in the region will be an arduous task. We must urge the Japanese government for a heartfelt apology, repentance and compensation so that the victims can pass away without any resentment.

Feature Articles

Present Performativity of the Traumatic Memories of Koryŏin in Kazakhstan

Kim Jong-Gon

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.4 No.1 pp.15-34

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2018.4.1.15

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Abstract

This paper, first of all, re-reads the memory of the 1937 deportation endured by the Koryŏin in Kazakhstan from the aspect of it being a traumatic memory. The aim is to see how the memory of deportation constructs into traumatic memory that is repeatedly summoned to the present rather than just remain in the past. In this paper, the deportation is seen as an incident that drove the Koryŏin out to the world of dehumanization where human vulnerabilities become revealed and forced them to live in constant innate fear afterwards. However, after the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the late 1980’s, Koryŏin, rather than forget their past history of deportation, forged their own collective memory and is performing the act of remaining in mourning. I argue that, through such process, the remembering can act as a call for universal human rights to be guaranteed for all ethnic groups in Kazakhstan, against the backdrop of Kazakh-centralism becoming more entrenched.

Feature Articles

Toward Justice in History: Achievements and Challenges on the Seventieth Anniversary of Jeju 4.3

Chansik Park

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.4 No.2 pp.15-37

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2018.4.2.15

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Abstract

This year, as Jeju 4.3 met its seventieth anniversary, a wide array of events and activities are designed to inform the general public of Jeju 4.3 on a national scale, finally transforming Jeju 4.3 into a historical narrative that must be remembered by all Korean people. Furthermore, empathy for amendments of the Special Act aimed at a just settlement and healing including damage compensation spread, and the US responsibilities for the massacres of Jeju residents entered the sphere of public opinion. Along with such advances, various attempts to liberate the 4.3 discourse were forwarded, in the form of re-situating the Jeju residents at the time of 4.3 from victims to sovereign subjects in their community as well as in history. Now, the movement for truth and justice of 4.3 must move forward, with the seventieth anniversary as its foundation, by meeting the following challenges: search for specific methods for just settlement and healing; continuation of the success of nationalization; establishment and propulsion of mid-to-long-term plans for addressing US responsibilities; establishment of a system and activities that will continue the 4.3 movement through the coming generations; and locating the relevance of the spirit of 4.3 vis-à-vis liaison between this spirit and key issues at the current historical juncture.

Feature Articles

Moral Development and the March First Movement

Hope Elizabeth May

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.5 No.1 pp.15-46

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2019.5.1.15

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Abstract

This paper offers a discussion of the March First Movement of 1919 (MFM) through the lens of moral development. Central to the discussion is the moral development of the most well-known personality associated with the MFM, Yu Kwan-sun (1902-1920). After discussing Yu’s own moral development, I connect this discussion to another important but less well-known figure associated with the MFM, Lee Sŭnghun (1864-1930). As a chief organizer of the MFM, Lee Sŭnghun made it possible for Yu Kwan-sun to both display and further develop her virtues and moral energies during the MFM. A discussion of Lee Sŭnghun also enables us to appreciate the thread of moral energy that was spinning prior the MFM, and which blossomed into the MFM in large part due to his efforts. I close by briefly discussing another participant in the MFM, Louise Yim (Im Yŏngsin) (1899-1977). Like Yu Kwan-sun, Yim was imprisoned and tortured for her participation in the MFM. Unlike Yu, however, Yim survived and dedicated her adult life to the independence of her country and the education of its citizens. A deeper consideration of the individuals involved in the MFM can connect us in the present to their virtues and moral energies. To know these individuals is to be inspired and moved by them. Thus the stories of the individual participants in the MFM remain an important resource for international ethics.

Feature Articles

Between the March First Movement and the Great Kanto Earthquake: Critique of Colonialized Representation of Koreans in Nakanishi Inosuke’s Novella Futei Senjin [The Unscrupulous Korean]

Hara Yusuke

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.6 No.2 pp.15-34

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2020.6.2.15

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Abstract

In the one hundred years since the March First Movement, the relationship between Korea and Japan is at its nadir. Keeping this current state in mind, this article examines how the March First Movement was understood in Japanese literature in an attempt to shed light on the various historical meanings of the March First Movement. Nakanishi Inosuke, the author discussed in this article, is a rare Japanese writer who recognized the historical nature of the March First Movement as a fundamental protest against colonial rule. He worked as a journalist in P’yŏngyang in the early 1910s and suffered the hardships of prison life in the colonies, which was extremely rare for a Japanese. Based on such experiences, he published a series of writings depicting colonial Korea in the 1920s. This article concentrates on one of such writings, Futei Senjin [The Unscrupulous Korean], and examines the meaning of this provocative title. Originally, the term “Futei Senjin” began to be used by the Japanese colonial power, which defined Koreans who resisted Japanese colonial rule as evil terrorists. And the March First Movement precipitated the rapid expansion of the term, from Korea to the colonial center. In the early 1920s, this term was widely recognized in the colonial center, creating an extremely negative and dehumanized image of the Korean people. In this vein, the term “Futei Senjin” can be characterized as an amalgam of the frightening, repulsive images of colonial Korea held by the Japanese during this period. Such images eventually led to the indiscriminate massacre of Koreans by the Japanese people amidst the chaos following the Great Kantō Earthquake in September 1923. Between the March First Movement and Great Kantō Earthquake, Nakanishi warned of the dangers of these distorted images of Koreans shared by the Japanese in his anti-colonial novella Futei Senjin [The Unscrupulous Korean], a warning that has yet to lose its validity in the current Japanese society filled with anti-Korean discourse.

Feature Articles

History and Status of the Overseas Koreans Policies in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea: Focusing on the Act on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Overseas Koreans Adopted in 2022

Ri Thae Il

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.9 No.1 pp.15-40

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2023.9.1.15

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Abstract

The Act on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Overseas Koreans was adopted as Decree No. 15 of the Ordinance of the Supreme People’s Congress (SPC). This Act is an important sector law that embodies the regulations for the protection of overseas North Korean rights stipulated in Article 15 of the Socialist Constitution of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, which states that: “The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea advocates democratic ethno-national rights as well as legal rights and interests recognized by international law for the overseas Koreans.” The Act, consisting of 54 articles divided into five chapters, comprehensively regulates the overseas North Koreans’ rights protection project, including the basic principles of the law as well as social politics, culture, and economic rights of overseas North Koreans, in addition to guidance control and penalties for overseas North Koreans’ businesses. As stipulated in Article 1, the purpose of the Act is to implement the ideas and policies of the Workers’ Party of Korea focusing on overseas North Koreans to ensure the democratic national rights and interests of the compatriots and to actively promote the unification and prosperity of their homeland. The adoption of this Act at the SPC is a significant step toward the full development and expansion of overseas North Koreans via the intensification of the overseas North Koreans’ ethno-national pride and patriotic fervor and meaningful as a powerful legal security for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to develop its business with overseas Koreans. Moreover, from the perspective of the movement of the Koreans in Japan, the adoption of said Act serves as a significant leap forward in terms of a legal security for an expansion in all parameters of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, the movement of the Koreans in Japan, and the motherland. With the enactment of this Act, overseas North Koreans have garnered the legal security in which their rights and interests are firmly defended well into the unforeseeable future under the protection of the Republic. The enactment of this law is a Republic’s preferential measure corresponding to the full development of the movement of the Koreans in Japan, a significant event in the history of the movement of the Koreans in Japan and a solid legal security premise to progress the struggle for the protection of compatriots’ rights under the strong protection of the motherland. In fact, there are numerous North Koreans all over the world, and the laws related to overseas Koreans are a reflection of the philosophy and policies related to overseas Koreans under that country. This Act is the implementation of ideas regarding overseas North Koreans and related policies founded on the Juche ideology, the leading ideology of the Republic. Based on the understanding of the history and status of the Republic’s overseas Korean policy, this article describes the political and practical significance of the Overseas Korean Rights Protection Act at the historical stage of revival of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, and proposes tasks and methods to demonstrate the effectiveness and living power of the law.

Feature Articles

Division Trauma of Koreans and Oral Narrative Healing

Kim, Jong-Kun

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.1 No.2 pp.17-39

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2015.1.2.17

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Abstract

This article looks into the reality of division trauma through various examples of recounts of war experience of Koreans, and seeks ways to heal that division trauma by focusing on oral narrative methods and contents of the tales. The sources of some irrationalities and conflicts in present day Korean society are division between South and North Korea, and the Korean War. As a result of such tragedy, politico-social conflicts still continue, leaving many scars on the lives of individuals. These scars are referred to as division trauma. Division trauma has a strong collective characteristic because it comes from the division and war experienced by the nation as a whole. Many of the recounts of Korean War experience contain such division trauma and constitute the mainstream of modern oral literature. However, these recounts, depending on how the narrator conveys the story and perceives the relevant event, take on different forms even with regard to same event. There is a coexistence between storytelling based on the narrative of division where the narrator points fingers and criticizes others as perpetrators, and storytelling seeking to become a narrative of integration by objectifying all aspects of an event and narrating it based on feelings of empathy. Oral storytelling aiming to become an integrative narrative, revealing how tragic wars are and how they negate all humanness, can contribute to healing division trauma. If stories with such narrative method can be found, be diffused throughout society and form a discursive space for an integrative narrative, oral narrative healing will become possible.

Feature Articles

A Comparative Study on Everyday Life of South Koreans and North Korean Defectors

Chung Jin-A

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.2 No.1 pp.17-43

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2016.2.1.17

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Abstract

This article is a research that surveyed and compared everyday customs, such as food, clothing and shelter, rites and seasonal rituals, and awareness of daily issues, such as views on family values, marriage, education and career, of South Koreans with that of North Korean defectors, in order to better understand the characteristics of living culture of South Koreans and North Korean defectors and to search for ways for the two groups to communicate better and culturally integrate. The results of the research show that, in relation to everyday customs such as clothing, food and shelter, rites and seasonal rituals, both South Koreans and North Korean defectors had transformed the traditional living culture to befit the lifestyles of the modern era. It seems that everyday customs of South Koreans had become more westernized while North Korean defectors maintained more traditional customs, but such difference decreased as defectors spent longer time in South Korea. One commonality in everyday customs found between the two was that customs acted as a mechanism maintaining a sense of community among South Koreans and among North Korean defectors, who had lived for a long time in different systems.
Due to inter-Korea tensions, and differing experience and habits formed under the different systems of capitalism and socialism, a large gap between the two groups was found in the area of day to day awareness and values. Differences were most pronounced in views on marriage and career. First of all, South Koreans were more negative toward marriage with a North Korean defector than with a Korean of another country whereas the defectors were more negative toward marriage with an overseas Korean and positive toward marriage with a South Korean. Secondly, for South Koreans, the higher the income, the stronger the pride they had over their jobs. However, for North Korean, those with lower income tended to be more proud of their jobs. South Koreans preferred becoming civil servants and professionals. North Korean defectors also added to the list, workers, as a job that made them proud. Thirdly, in choosing their jobs, South Koreans felt the thoughts and advice of their parents to be important while North Korean defectors were more reliant on state policy. The results of this study gives us important insight into how we can promote cultural integration of South Koreans and North Korean defectors. First of all, the negative perspective South Koreans have of North Korean defectors has to be fundamentally revisited. It is essential that the prejudice of equating ordinary North Koreans with the government be overcome and that North Korean defectors be seen with a sense of national solidarity. Secondly, South Koreans and North Koreans defectors need to share the advantages of individualism and collectivism that the two sides had acquired as a result of living under different systems, and be able to use those advantages as a driver of social development. Third, cultural integration between South Koreans and North Korean defectors must be a process of attaining diversity in national everyday customs while respecting the customs of the other, and also of heading toward further expanding and developing national everyday customs.

Feature Articles

A Research on North Korea’s Modern Way of Accepting the Tale Chinegaksi (Centipede maiden)

Kim Jong-Kun, Feng Ying-Dun

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.2 No.2 pp.17-36

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2016.2.2.17

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Abstract

North Korean tale Ch’ŏngryongŭi poŭnn which was covered in this article is a representative folktale which was modified based on Juche Ideology. It is identical with Chinegaksi which is a representative folktale in the Korean penisula except for the ending part. The difference in the ending is whether the fortune given to the male protagonist is individual or collective in its nature. This difference seems to be due to modification with the influence of collective morality and Juche ideology of North Korea. To assess the literary value of the modified narrative, this article learned about the identity and value of this tale based on the pre-division era records. And by comparing how modern tales in South and North Korea from a similar period and status accept archetype of this tale, this article aimed to analyze the narrative value of this tale. North Korean tale Ch’ŏngryongŭi poŭnn will be regarded as an important material to understand the social culture of North Korea and an old story with the message of social integration in the future society of the unified Korean peninsula. This tale is a story about two different beings trusting each other and working toward a better future. In other words, it is a story about the value of “symbiosis” being realized in the dimension of “group.” Despite the modification intention behind this literature which is based on the North Korean view of history, this tale is an important literary work that shows what kind of life “we” as a group should pursue in a modern society filled with suspicion and fear.

Feature Articles

Cultural Memories of State Violence: A Comparative Study of Kwangju and Hiroshima

Mikyoung Kim

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.6 No.1 pp.17-46

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2020.6.1.17

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Abstract

This article compares two sites of state violence in Asia, Japan’s Hiroshima and Korea’s Kwangju, in order to analyze commemoration of state-initiated civilian sufferings. Despite common symptoms of traumatic experiences at individual level, commemorative practices exhibit striking differences at societal level. Hiroshima is still in mourning over its own victimhood, while remaining relatively ambivalent about Japan’s role as the perpetrator of other countries. The controversies surrounding the renovation project of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum from 1985 until 1994 show the city’s willingness to promote its moral authority as the anti-nuclear pacifist leader, whereas the municipal leadership conceded to make political compromises. Kwangju, the place of civilian massacre in May 1980, on the other hand, has undergone dramatic transformation from the site of antigovernment protests to the mecca of Korea’s democratization movement. The trajectory of the May 18 Democracy Cemetery shows Kwangju’s ideational transformation from a victim to the hero of Korean democracy. A cross-cultural comparison of the two commemorative sites of state violence shows the way in which Japanese cultural modes of ambivalence and situational logic permit ambivalence, whereas Korean cultural modes of self-victimization and resistance negate a post-hoc aggrandizement of the tragic past.

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Characteristics of Unification Consciousness of Korean-Japanese Students Viewed through Their Writing: Focusing on the Works Awarded Prizes in a Writing Contest Received July

Kim Chinmi

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.7 No.1 pp.17-36

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2021.7.1.17

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Abstract

This article seeks to examine the characteristics of Korean- Japanese students' understanding of unification through their written works that received prizes in a student writing contest, which has been conducted for more than forty years as part of ethnonational education of Korean students in Japan. In this study, middle and high school students’ works (from 1978 to 2016) were selected as its subjects. Of the 1,485 works, 209 (14 percent) are related to unification issues, and these 209 works were in turn classified into seven categories according to the subject. By focusing on the trends and changes in the times that emerge from the students' understanding of unification, this study found that division and unification must be considered when students problematize their existence amid the continuing colonialist policies in Japan and the division structure. In addition, despite the strengthening of the framework for recognizing North and South Korea as separate nations within Japan's consciousness of the Korean Peninsula, the Korean students in Japan appear to have always looked forward to a unified Korea. This may be because the need for unification has been regarded as a matter of self-reliance by the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan and within ethnonational education spaces, in which bodies have always engaged in and forwarded unification movements despite opposition from extremely conservative forces that seek to maintain the status quo.

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In the Making of a New South Korean Nationalism

Jay Song

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.7 No.2 pp.17-48

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2021.7.2.17

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Abstract

Drawing from Shin Gi Wook’s conceptualization of ethnonationalism, and Seol Dong Hoon’s theory of hierarchical nationhood, this article seeks to examine the evolution of a new South Korean nationhood, analyzed over the past few decades. Military conflict, foreign intervention, political bifurcation, and globalization have been fundamental elements that shaped the past 70 years of evolving Korean identities in the Korean peninsula. This article scrutinizes the intersectionality of nationality, class, gender, and ethnicity between co-ethnic North Korean refugees, Korean Chinese (Chosŏnjok) immigrants, non-Korean migrant wives, and non- Korean workers. It is found that unlike the intellectual trends of post-nationalism advocated by former democratic and peace activists in South Korea, younger South Koreans instead show a tendency towards a new South Korean nationalism. To this end, modern South Korean society is still in the process of coalescence towards this new conception of nationalism.

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Crossing Families: North Korean Refugee Women and Monetary Remittance in Jero Yun’s Mrs. B, A North Korean Woman (2016), Beautiful Days (2018), and Fighter (2021)*

Eun Ah Cho

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.8 No.1 pp.17-40

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2022.8.1.17

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Abstract

More than 70 percent of North Korean refugees who cross the Sino-North Korean border are women, and approximately 60 percent of them send money to family members that they left behind in North Korea. How does the North Korean refugees’ monetary remittances change the relationship with their family members? This article answers this question particularly focusing on Jero Yun’s trilogy about North Korean women: Mrs. B, A North Korean Woman (2016), Beautiful Days (2018), and Fighter (2021). By reading North Korean refugee issues as a part of dispersed families (isan’gajok) in the history of a divided Korea, the director delivers a strong message of motherhood through the North Korean women in his films. The women in the films, however, reveal how desperately they want to escape from the conventional image of “Korean mothers” who are supposed to sacrifice and devote themselves to their children. With monetary and emotional remittance to their family members, the North Korean women gradually turn over their hierarchy in the patriarchal family system and transform themselves into tearless mothers who do not apologize for their absence. By establishing their own moral boundary, these women not only cross the conception of clan-based family but bid farewell to the nation (North Korea), which is a collective of individual families.

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South Korea–China Relations: At 30, Is the Party Over? A Korean Perspective

Seong-Hyon Lee

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.8 No.2 pp.17-50

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2022.8.2.17

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Abstract

This article dwells on the uncertainty that lies in the future of South Korea–China relations. The deep economic complementarity that previously characterized the close South Korea-China relations is no longer there. Accusations of cultural and historical appropriation have significantly undermined confidence between civil societies. The anti-China sentiment among South Koreans has been unprecedentedly high since the THAAD dispute. Especially among young South Koreans, a sense of incompatibility with China’s political system is widening. In the security realm, South Korea’s high hopes for China to render a constructive role in containing North Korea’s nuclear and missile belligerence are becoming less tenable, as China regards the United States, not North Korea, as a bigger existential threat. The pull and push of the intensifying U.S.–China rivalry is set to severely constrain South Korea’s choices, including semiconductor supply chains, while posing fresh challenges such as the tension building in the Taiwan Strait. South Korea’s political leadership has been traditionally primed for domestic turf fights and is not well equipped to deal with the outside geopolitical shift, precipitated by the “rise of China.” The year 2022 marks the 30th diplomatic anniversary of Seoul-Beijing relations. At age 30, the Seoul and Beijing’s earlier infatuation is over. Their future is uncertain.

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North Korean Perceptions toward Traditional Dietary Customs and Policies for Their Protection*

Youngsun Jeon

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.9 No.2 pp.17-45

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2023.9.2.17

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Abstract

This study is to compare perceptions of the two Koreas’ traditional dietary cultures and the policies enacted to protect these cultures with a view to predicting the potential collisions that could occur during the process of unification and to presenting a direction for integrating the dietary cultures of the two countries. The dietary cultures of the two Koreas have been perceived as conspicuous joint cultural assets formed over 5,000 years. North Korea has made efforts to preserve the traditions of Korean national culture. After the Kim Jongun regime gained power in 2012, the country took efforts to unearth its intangible heritage, whose significant portion was related to dietary culture. North Korea has designated four elements of dietary culture as national intangible cultural heritage: (1) daily food available nationwide; (2) seasonal food related to holidays; (3) traditional alcohol; and (4) local food. North Korea has held various cooking competitions and has made efforts to unearth elements of traditional Korean dietary culture with a view to promote this culture. There are very similar aspects to how the two Koreas make value judgments and promote industrialization policies regarding cultural heritage that is related to traditional dietary culture. There are policy-related similarities in regards to the positive evaluations that the two Koreas make toward dietary culture, along with the proactive efforts to unearth, along with national efforts to preserve, that culture. That being said, there are differences in the specific elements of culture that the two Koreas aim to inherit and preserve. There are differences in the systems of the two Koreas in terms of the objectives and orientation of unearthing traditional culture and the criteria used to evaluate its value. These differences suggest there will be clashes between the two Koreas in living culture (saenghwal munhwa). During exchanges between the two Koreas, there is an imperative to establish human and material infrastructures to allow the active exchange of information, joint investigations, academic exchanges, and communication in regards to living culture, including dietary culture.

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A Study on North Korean Narratives of Ancient Fictions in the 1950s

Feng Yingdun

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.10 No.1 pp.17-40

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2024.10.1.17

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Abstract

In the mid-1950s, North Korea’s socialist construction efforts were carried out across the entire society. Even in the field of classical literature, the history of classical novels was written from a Marxist-Leninist perspective to educate the masses. Yi Ŭng-su and Kim Ha-myŏng made the first attempt to write the North Korean history of ancient novels in the 1950s using a Marxist-Leninist methodology, which was based on their research on the history of ancient novels in the predivision period. In 1959, under the influence of the Chollima Movement, the first collectively written book of literary history, Chosŏn munhak t’ongsa [The complete history of Korean literature], was published by the Literature Research Center of the Institute of Language and Literature, Academy of Sciences of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Therefore, the North Korean narrative about classical novels in the 1950s took two forms. Compared to what had been written by Yi Ŭng-su and Kim Ha-myŏng in the mid-1950s, the part of The Complete History of Korean Literature devoted to classic literary history was more detailed and added more critical logic, such as humanitarianism. The North Korean history of ancient novels in the 1950s is different from the South Korean version of the same period, and it is also different from the North Korean history of ancient novels after the establishment of the Juche Literary Theory. In other words, the North Korean history of ancient novels in the 1950s can be seen as having a unique transitional character amid a period in which the North Korean system was being established.

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Gender Equality in North and South Korea: Continuity and Change

Hye-ok Lee

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.10 No.2 pp.17-47

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2024.10.2.17

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Abstract

This study examines the developmental factors and constraints of gender equality that can be derived from the experiences of the respective systems and residents of North and South Korea by comparing the origins, characteristics, and results of “gender equality” and “expansion of women’s rights” formalized in both Koreas during the “period of system establishment” from the mid-1950s to the 1960s. In North Korea, despite the early promulgation of the Gender Equality Law, the abolition of “feudal male superiority,” and the transformation of women into the working class, “socialist male superiority” persisted and women’s social status was not improved significantly. In South Korea, actions to advance women’s rights were driven from below by women activists and campaigners of a nature that did not exist in North Korea, but the ideal of “wise mother and good wife” that had prevailed since before liberation persisted despite economic and social development. In both North and South Korea, the path of economic development during the period of system consolidation was such that patriarchy was maintained and strengthened in a transformed form, rather than weakened. Ultimately, regardless of the differences in systems, the gender culture and order in North and South Korea showed limitations in terms of post-patriarchy. The question of how to overcome this in the future will be a key task in envisioning gender equality for a unified Korea.

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Book Review

Ñusta Carranza Ko

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.4 No.2 pp.67-92

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2018.4.2.67

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Abstract

The April 3 Incident in the Island of Jeju marked one of the gravest human rights violations in Korean history involving a majority of victims who were non-politically motivated innocent civilians caught in the crossfire between the state, foreign actors, and a leftist political party and its armed affiliates. The violence, which continued from 1947 to 1954, resulted in the highest number of casualties, following that of the Korean War (1950-1953). Despite the gravity of the human rights violations, it was only after South Korea transitioned to a democracy and prosecuted two former heads of states that the state engaged in efforts to address the April 3 Incident. This study examines the Special Act for the Investigation of the Jeju April 3 Incident and Recovering the Honor of Victims (1999) and the National Committee for the Investigation of the Truth about the Jeju April 3 Events, which established the Jeju April 3 Commission (2000). Specifically, the study focuses on the status of state compliance with the list of recommendations and article provisions from the Special Act and the National Committee, which included policies for truth-seeking, reparations, and accountability measures for the state. The article finds that while on truth-seeking and symbolic reparations the state reflected a good record of complying with the recommendations, on financial and medical reparations, and criminal accountability measures, the state was relatively less proactive in compliance. The selective level of compliance from the state provides some insight as to the state’s respect for these policies and the possible conditions that may have resulted in the differences of state behavior.

Book Review

Taewoo Kim. Naengjŏn-ŭi manyŏdŭl: han’guk chŏnjaeng-gwa yŏsŏngjuŭi p’yŏnghwaundong [Witches of the Cold War: The Korean War and Feminist Peace Movement]. Seoul: Changbi, 2021. ISBN: 9788936482954.

Nam Gyeong-woo

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.10 No.1 pp.67-74

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2024.10.1.67

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Abstract

“Comfort Women” and Aggressive War: Reading Korean and Chinese Survivors’ Accounts

Peipei Qiu

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.3 No.1 pp.69-89

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2017.3.1.69

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Abstract

Imperial Japan’s “comfort women” system was one of the major atrocities against humanity during the Asia-Pacific war (1931-1945), yet denial of this war crime remains steadfast in Japan today. This paper introduces and discusses the personal accounts of Korean and Chinese “comfort women” which hitherto were unavailable to English readers. It demonstrates, through the testimonies of the survivors and eyewitnesses, the close correlation between the proliferation of the military comfort stations and the progression of Japan’s aggressive war. The lived experiences of the “comfort women” reveal undeniably that the “comfort women” system was created for the war and made possible by the war. The survivors’ narratives highlight that in today’s world when sexual violence continues to be used as an instrument of armed conflicts that prevents societies from achieving sustainable peace, the comfort women’s memories constitute a legacy of global significance.

Interview

A Conversation with Lee Jong-seok*

Interviewer: Jeon Young-sun

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.11 No.1 pp.69-86

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Abstract

Dances of Divided Korea on the Central Asian Soil

German Kim

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.7 No.1 pp.71-97

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2021.7.1.71

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Abstract

After the division of Korea into two states, there appeared a significant difference in the folk dance performing styles between the North and the South. At the beginning the traditional culture and art of the Soviet Koreans was under the influence of North Korea. It was explained by the diplomatic relations, economic cooperation and cultural exchange between the Soviet Union and the DPRK only, excluding the Republic of Korea. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the South seized the initiative in the issue of promoting ties between the post-Soviet Koreans and their ethnic homeland, even though their ancestors, in the overwhelming majority, came from the northern provinces of the Korean Peninsula. This article is one of the first steps in studying the Korean folk dances in the USSR and CIS influenced by northern and southern styles from historical point of view. The article deals with the old folk dances (minsok muyong), excluding court dances (kungjung muyong), “new” dances (shin muyong) developed in the 1920s, and modern dances (kundae muyong). Based on varied original sources and long personal observations, the article analyzes the folk dances of the divided Korea represented in the repertoires of professional, semiprofessional, and amateur Korean dance groups in Central Asia.

Book Review

Ryang Yong-Song. Hyŏmo p’yohyŏn-ŭn wae chaeil chosŏnin-ŭl kyŏnyang-hanŭn’ga [Why Is Hate Speech Aimed at Zainichi Koreans?]. Translated by Kim Sŏnmi. Seoul: Sanbooks, 2018. 336 Pages. ISBN13: 9788990062864. ISBN10: 8990062861.

Han Sangwon

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.9 No.2 pp.71-81

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2023.9.2.71

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Abstract

Book Review

Ko Sung-man et al. Pip’anjŏk 4·3 yŏn’gu [A Critical Study of the April 3 Incident]. Seoul: Hangroo, 2023. 326 Pages. ISBN: 9791168670891.

Soyoung Lee

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.10 No.2 pp.73-80

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2024.10.2.73

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The Possibility of Intimate Public Sphere : Political Familism of Divided Koreans

Kim Myung-Hee

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.2 No.1 pp.75-101

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2016.2.1.75

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Abstract

Discourses around Korean familism emphasize traditional factors or remain in the realm of how Korean familism corresponds with mobilization strategy of a developmental state and functions in a transformative manner; therefore, the discourses are unable to break from the normative argument of public vs. private and egoistic vs. moral. This study explores the possibility of prospective interpretation by revisiting competing hypotheses on factors and characteristics of contemporary Korean familism. Major findings of this research are as follow.
First, existing discussions can be generally categorized as follows: Cultural causation (Confucian familism theory), industrialization causation, historical structure approach and politico-sociological approach. By critically reconstituting achievements and limits of preceding studies, it is possible to better understand the familism of divided Korea as a political construct via historic experiences of the colonial modernity and war state as outcome of ‘the invention of tradition’ insisted by Eric Hobsbawm. This study conceptualizes institutional condition of familism into "family status system," a unique mechanism of the civil right of the divided state, which is a combined result of the National Security Act, implicative system, and patriarchal Family Law, all of three are twins of the 1948 Constitution of the Republic of Korea.
Second, when complexity and multi-meanings of ‘family’ which is a space of reproduction where gender, generation, class and state come together, are applied to the level of historical experiences of cold war and post-cold war in the East Asia, ‘family’ in the war system plays the function of ambivalent medium in the sense that it becomes a compensating space of lost public space and that it is also a socialization space in which traumas related to colony, war, division are reproduced.
In this context, this study proposes the potential of ‘political familism’ innate in family-centeredness of divided Koreans to be considered in intimate public sphere that is neither public nor private. In conclusion, this study shows that Korean familism needs to be understood comprehensively in conjunction with structural and institutional conditions around families, the legitimacy of the state, and the historical experiences as well as political consciousness of family members interacting with such environment. This research also calls for an interpretation which focuses on agency and political potentials of familism as historical product of colonial modernity.

Articles

Battle between the Two Koreas in Vietnam: An Analysis of Participation in the Vietnam War by the North Korean Psychological Warfare Unit and Propaganda Leaflets

Lee Sin Jae

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.4 No.1 pp.75-97

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2018.4.1.75

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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to illuminate the veracity of deployment of the North Korean psychological warfare unit to the Vietnam War and its activities. With the South Korean troops as its target, North Korea deployed over a hundred psychological warfare troops every year, beginning with the first unit of four dispatched in June of 1966. The North Korean psychological warfare unit produced and distributed propaganda leaflets and materials; taught the Vietcong the Korean language and means to abduct South Korean troops; operated Korean-language broadcasts; and conducted data investigation and radio monitoring. The most noteworthy of said activities was the distribution of propaganda bills. An analysis of fifty-eight propaganda bills collected at the time demonstrates forms as diverse as writing, photographs, drawings, and a combination of writing and photographs (or at times writing and drawings). The contents involved propaganda regarding the characteristics of the war, instigation of anti-American and anti-government struggles, stimulation of nostalgia and decline of morale, and inducement of defection to North Korea. The illumination of North Korean participation in the Vietnam War is a crucial facet of better understanding the significance of the Vietnam War in contemporary Korean history as well as the security conditions of the Korean peninsula in the 1960s and the 1970s. Essential will be ongoing research on the North Korean involvement in the Vietnam War, a subject that has remained relegated to the sidelines thus far.

Book Review

Adam Cathcart, Christopher Green, and Steven Denney, eds. Decoding the Sino-North Korean Borderlands. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2021. 440 pages. ISBN: 9789462987562 (hardback).

Bomin Ko

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.9 No.1 pp.77-84

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2023.9.1.77

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Abstract

Interview

A Conversation with Du-yul Song*

Interviewer: Young-Kyun Park

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.10 No.1 pp.77-97

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Abstract

Articles

The History of the Present: Foundational Meta-Narratives in Contemporary North Korean Discourse

Eric J. Ballbach

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.1 No.2 pp.79-100

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2015.1.2.79

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Abstract

This study addresses the phenomenon of foundational meta-narratives in North Korea’s discourses. Meta-narratives are understood here as a totalizing cultural narrative schema which orders and explains knowledge and experience. On the national level, meta-narratives refer to those over-arching, all-encompassing myths and stories that contain the historical knowledge of a country’s foundational history. This paper discusses three particularly important meta-narratives permeating North Korea’s contemporary political and cultural discourses: the meta-narrative of national ruin, of (Kim Il Sung’s) armed resistance and of constant threat of external aggression. Providing both positive and negative frames of reference, the study shows how these meta-narratives are strategically employed in contemporary discourses as ‘historical contextualizations’ in which particular interpretations of the past are used as arguments for political actions in the present, and, with recourse to history, produce a normative frame for evaluating contemporary events and actions. At the same time, the historical references and myths contained in those meta-narratives play an important role in establishing identity and fostering integration, for they level differences within the North Korean community and thus construct sameness and communality.

The City of Yanji as a Liminal Space to Imagine Korean Unification in Yi Munyŏl`s "An Appointment with His Brother"

Jerôme de Wit

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.3 No.2 pp.81-98

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2017.3.2.81

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Abstract

The end of the Korean War did not bring about the end of Korea’s division. The theme of division runs through many South Korean literary works of the twentieth century. This so-called “division literature” can be characterized by its focus on the psychological pain of separation, and the (im)possibility of unification. The personal tragedies of separated families, of dashed hopes and dreams due to history’s vicissitudes, all these aspects appear in Korea’s modern literature and have their root in the Korean War. South Korean author Yi Munyŏl has been personally affected by the Korean War, and his trauma can be found in many of his writings. In “An Appointment with His Brother” (Auwa-ŭi mannam), published in 1995, he tries to find a means through literature to reach common ground with the other side (North Korea) for a possible future unification. He chose the Chinese city of Yanji as the setting for his story, a place where the majority of its population are ethnic Koreans who from 1992 onwards, have had connections with both North and South Korea. The city and its inhabitants serve as a liminal space where Yi Munyŏl can explore possibilities for reconciliation and to give shape to an imagined Korean unification

The Conflict between Progressive and Reactionary Literature on the March First People’s Uprising

Sŏk Kŭmch’ŏl

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.5 No.1 pp.81-100

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2019.5.1.81

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Abstract

After the March First People’s Uprising, writers that included progressive patriots, independence activists and the broader masses created progressive literature that reflected the heights of the Korean people’s patriotic fervor and the national anti-Japanese struggle. In contrast, bourgeois writers went down the path of becoming reactionaries as their disappointment, sense of failure, weariness and despair led them to a literary world that was at once both empty and degenerate. Unlike the progressive works that flow with our people’s strong will and invincible spirit that refused to surrender in the face of guns and knives and gave them the strong resolve to achieve independence for their country, these corrupted literary works were reactionary in the sense that they emphasized feelings of depression, despair and pessimism in their portrayal of human beings faced with misfortune. These works, which reflect historical fact but are in sharp contrast to the Chuch’e ideological direction, portrayal of art and characters, and description of life in both content and convention, show how sharp and complicated the confrontation between progressive and reactionary literature was in our country’s modern literary world in the time leading up to and following the March First People’s Uprising.

Articles

Korean-American Community’s May 18 Gwangju: From Collective Action to Social Movement

Mikyoung Kim

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.7 No.2 pp.81-113

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2021.7.2.81

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Abstract

There has been very few research on the May 18 Democratization Movement in Gwangju analyzed from the transnational perspective. This study aims to fill the void of existing studies by posing two specific questions. First, why and how Korean-Americans, who were non-politicized minorities, participated in the May 18 Movement? And second, what were the impetuses behind its transformation from collective action to organized social movement? The early responses of the Korean-Americans took on the characteristics of collective action, which later transformed into organized social movement. This article argues that Yoon Han-bong, the last fugitive of May 18 and the first Korean political asylum grantee in the United States, was the main impetus behind such transformation. The transformative mechanisms include Yoon's charismatic leadership, national pride fostered by consciousness-raising education, organizational culture that provided a comfort zone to alienated Korean immigrants, and empowering activist experiences. As democratization progressed in Korea in 1987, confusion and conflict arose over the future directions of Korean-Americans’ May 18 Gwangju movement. The morale and sense of direction deteriorated greatly in part due to Yoon’s permanent return to Korea resulting in organizational demise leaving the legacies of the transnational May 18 Movement in disarray.

Articles

The Struggle for Life and National Liberation of Koreans in Japan in the 1920s: Centered on the General Union of Korean Workers in Japan

Lee Punghe

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.8 No.2 pp.83-118

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2022.8.2.83

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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to revisit the organizational processes and activities of the General Union of Korean Workers in Japan (hereafter referred to as the General Union), which was formed vis-à-vis the unification of the various labor organizations by Koreans in Japan throughout different regions, to examine the lives of Korean residents in Japan and the struggle for national liberation after 1922. It is imperative that light be shone upon the interrelationship between the Korean-Japanese intellectuals and “the people” who faced ethnic and class contradictions within the structure of Japanese colonial governance. This means analyzing the tensions and anxieties borne of how the movements unfolded amid conflicts surrounding the discourses toward national liberation and contradictions inherent in the lower ranks. Only through such an analysis can movement history be reconstructed into that which reflects the demands forwarded by “the people.” The articles examines the organization and activities of the General Union, which played a significant part in the Korean national liberation movements in Japan and fought to defend the lives of Korean residents in Japan. The General Union was a federation of Korean labor unions established in various regions of Japan. As such, simply analyzing the processes of the organization and activities of the General Union does not diverge in any meaningful way from the framework innate in previous studies; in fact, what must be clarified is the Union’s relationship with the struggles of local unions or workers.

Interview

An Interview with Jae-Jung Suh

Interviewer: Kim Chongkon

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.10 No.2 pp.83-101

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Abstract

Articles

North Korean Comedy of Manners : Day at the Amusement Park

Immanuel Kim

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.1 No.1 pp.85-106

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2015.1.1.85

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Abstract

The comedy of manners is a theatrical genre that satirizes the manners and mores of pretentious characters from the upper class. Characters in Day at the Amusement Park disguise their true passion and desire with society’s unwritten rules of decorum and allow cultural practices to dictate their behavior more than having the political ideology control them. Being conscientious of how the public might view oneself and how one ought to behave in public dominate the rationality and attitude of the characters. The comedy is found not only in the misunderstandings and mistaken identities in the plot, but also in the characters’ strict observance of decorum and in the explosive revealing of their pent up desires. Comedy is one of the performative ways of revealing to the audience the blunders, internal paradoxes, and disillusionment of social and political life. The subject of social decorum and cultural practices in this film may help South Korean viewers look past the political barrier and appreciate the importance of humor and farce in the North Korean culture.

Interview

An Interview with Fujii Takeshi

Interviewer: Park Min-Cheol

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.9 No.2 pp.85-104

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Abstract

Articles

‘Two Cultures’ and the Possibility of Integrated Korean Studies: Via ‘Critical Naturalism’ of Marx and Durkheim

Kim Myung-Hee

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.2 No.2 pp.87-110

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2016.2.2.87

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Abstract

This paper is an attempt to search for a meta-theoretical foundation to an integrated Korean studies. Without its own target and methodology, it will be difficult for Korean studies to be established as an independent academic discipline. In particular, the antagonism of the ‘Two Cultures,’ referring to the juxtaposition between humanities and the sciences, has been reproduced into a humanities-based ‘National studies’ (‘國學’) and a social science-based ‘Korean studies’ (‘韓國學’), and is acting as a factor preventing a more holistic perspective of Korean society. Such division originated from the modern academic disciplinary structure systemized at the end of the 19th century but was then deepened by the path dependency of the division system and the external dependency of the Korean academia. Under this context, this paper seeks to graft critical naturalism of Marx and Durkheim, who envisioned unified sciences at the end of the 19th century, before separation into modern academic disciplines took place, to the attempts to alleviate the ‘Two Cultures’ and thereby project an integrated Korean studies. Critical naturalism of the two thinkers – in particular, their relational social paradigm and theory of explanatory critique – proposes a third way that resolves the dichotomies between society and people, science and philosophy, nomothetic and idiographic methods, and facts and values, thus positioning itself as a paradigmatic basis for unified knowledge that overcomes the antagonism between hyper-naturalist positivism and anti-naturalist humanities. Moreover, the critical naturalism of the two provides the possibility of depth-explanatory human sciences that integrates the historicity and the scientificity of a divided society as well as abundant philosophy of science resources to promote a more complete Korean studies that encompasses both the South and the North.

Interview

An Interview with Chung Kyung-mo

Interviewer: Kim Jong-gun

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.9 No.1 pp.87-108

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Articles

On the Significance of Culinary Culture in the Cultivation of Ethno-National Identity of the Koreans Residing in Japan

Kim Jongsuk

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.5 No.2 pp.89-112

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2019.5.2.89

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This study examines the historical trajectory of and the impetus for the selection of bulgogi by the Koreans residing in Japan, contextualized in Japanese history as well as vis-a-vis theories of cultural anthropology and the practice thereof. Moreover, it focuses on the cultural-economic and diachronic processes of bulgogi’s development into a veritable ethno-national food industry amidst the influence of Japanese society upon Korean-Japanese dietary habits. Finally, the study addresses the place of Korean culinary traditions, including bulgogi, in education that may impart a sense of Korean ethno-nationalist consciousness in the third-, fourth-, and fifth-generation Korean-Japanese in various social spaces within Japanese society. This is so done in face of lived experiences in the attempts to solve the problem of heritance of ethno-nationalist consciousness for the Korean-Japanese people. In sum, three suggestions are forwarded: 1) In the future, it will be necessary to produce talented individuals who can cultivate ethno-nationalism through a systematic study of the culinary traditions of Korea. In addition, possibilities for extending to other grade levels the courses that are currently executed at the middle-school first-grade level must be explored; 2) Through regularly held re-education that includes research and seminars by and for the Korean-Japanese people in the food industry in not only Japan, but also in South Korea, possibilities toward a more creative, progressive culinary culture for Korean food, including bulgogi made of wagyu, Korean beef, as well as other types of beef, should be sought from the persepective of nutrional science and management systems; and 3) In sharing common goals of the disparate groups in the Korean diaspora, including the Korean-Chinese people in Yanbian, possibilities for collaborative research should be explored, and the problem of cultivating ethno-nationalist consciousness on foreign soil must be discussed.

Articles

Contemporary South Korean War Cinema as a Possible Cultural Memory Medium

Tvirmantas Cenka

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.3 No.1 pp.93-121

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2017.3.1.93

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Abstract

This study explores the possibility of Korean War cinema serving as a medium in creation and spreading of new Korean War cultural memory and proposes three theoretical and philosophical approaches. Major findings and suggestions of this research are as follows. First, this study discusses three approaches on how cinema can be involved in the process of cultural memory formation and proposes, as discussed by Alleida Assmann, Astrid Erll, Alison Landsberg and others that cinema can be used in creation of unification discourse within the popular media. Second, this study categorizes recent Korean War movies produced in South Korea as belonging to a new wave of Korean War cinema, which portrays war as a national tragedy, focusing on the damage caused by ideology and outside forces, rather than portraying it only as a North Korean aggression and blaming communists for the tragic destiny of the Korean nation. The study suggests that these movies can be used in creating a new paradigm in remembrance of the Korean War. In conclusion, this study proposes to use recent South Korean war movies as educational material in order to create a South Korean identity based on compassion and solidarity, rather than rigid antagonism and hatred.

A Cocktail of Vices: International Ethics and the Jeju Incident

Hope Elizabeth May

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.4 No.2 pp.93-125

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2018.4.2.93

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Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of the Jeju 4.3 incident through a framework of virtue, vice and international ethics. By utilizing primary source documents such as the United States’ Military Intelligence reports (the G-2 Weekly Summaries and Periodic Reports), the incident is described as arising from a “cocktail of vices” – including not only cognitive errors, but also affective vices of character such as factionalism and the inability to compromise. Seen in this way, the Jeju incident offers a lesson about international ethics of which we should be mindful as we move towards the peaceful unification of the two Koreas.

The Suffered, the Un-represented, Yet Still the Protesting: The Cinematic Un-representations of the Bereaved Mothers in post-Kwangju May Uprising Movements

Gooyong Kim

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.6 No.1 pp.93-122

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2020.6.1.93

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Abstract

This article examines how feature films represent mothers who became activists after having lost a child during the Kwangju May Uprising. As a means to reconsider how the mass medium helps shape the public’s understanding of various factors in the historic event and its contribution to democratization in Korea, this paper examines whether the popular entertainment genre provides the audience with a sound perspective to learn different human factors in the Uprising as well as post-Uprising social movements. Specifically, this article examines how the film portrays women’s involvement in post-Uprising movement, focusing on the gendered nature of representation, or un-representations of female activists in the movies on the Uprising and other social movements. This paper calls for a more just recognition of various human components that contribute to social transformation, by overcoming the epistemological hegemony of patriarchy.

Book Review

Paek, Nam-nyong. Friend: a Novel from North Korea. New York: Columbia University Press, 2020. 240 pages. ISBN: 9780231195614 (paperback).

Amanda Wright

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.6 No.2 pp.95-106

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2020.6.2.95

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Book Review

Pak Yŏng-ja. Pukhan nyŏja: t’ansaeng-gwa kulgok-ŭi 70 nyŏnsa [North Korean Women: 70 Years of Birth and Refraction]. Seoul: Aelp’i, 2017. 639 pages. ISBN: 9791187430124 93340.

Jean Do

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.8 No.1 pp.97-106

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2022.8.1.97

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The Relation between the United States and the Countries of the Korean Peninsula in the 1970s: A Survey of the Chinese Academic Literature

Yan Jin

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.4 No.1 pp.99-125

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2018.4.1.99

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In recent years, the relations between the United States (US) and the countries of the Korean Peninsula began to play a more important role for China. With the improvement of the level of Chinese scholarship, as well as the rapid declassification of the archival material on pre-1980 Cold War history, there emerged a lot of academic publications in China on the 1970s history of US relations with the two Koreas. Although Chinese scholars took different perspectives on this subject, the mainstream view maintains that with the ease of the Cold War tensions in the Northeast Asia, the relations between the United States and the countries on the Peninsula changed in the varying degrees in the 1970s: on the one hand, although the United States and South Korea still maintained their alliance, their relationship was characterized by friction and contradictions, as the issue of the withdrawal of the US troops and the human rights debates had vividly demonstrated; on the other hand, US-North Korean relations were marked by the rapid process of bilateral relaxation. In general, Chinese academic literature on US-South Korean relations is much more profound compared to the scholarly work on American relations with North Korea. And while in recent years remarkable progress has been made by Chinese scholars, there is still plenty of room for improvement, especially in terms of broadening interdisciplinary studies and theory, utilizing multi-archival material, conducting in-depth research of the political systems, the decision-making processes in the relevant countries, as well as the politics within the lower levels of government, etc.

Korean Unification: Political and Economic Aspects in the East-Asian Context

Stanislav L. Tkachenko

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.1 No.2 pp.101-117

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2015.1.2.101

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Abstract

Since Ukraine’s crisis started in February 2014, the relations of the Russian Federation with Western powers deteriorated significantly and have reached the level of the Cold War conflict. That is why the “Pivot to Asia” is currently the key characteristics of its foreign policy strategy. This article analyses several scenarios of future security regime in Asia as well as Russia’s vision of possible developments in the Korean peninsula. It concludes that the strategic aim of the international community of nations nowadays should be peace-keeping, conflict resolution, maintaining status-quo in those regions (the Korean peninsula, for example), where an immediate solution is impossible.

Articles

Current Status of North Korean Teaching Method Following the Changes in Content Deployment Method in Textbooks

Oum Hyun Suk

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.3 No.2 pp.101-117

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2017.3.2.101

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This article examines the current status of North Korean teaching method according to the changes in the content deployment in textbooks which were published after Kim Jong-un assumed power. The author examined changes in the content deployment of first-year textbooks for elementary, middle and high schools which were published after Kim Jong-un took power and analyzed how such changes affected the teaching method. For this, the article reviewed periodical publications on North Korean education which were published around 2012 to examine the evaluation of the teacher`s group which is directly affected the supplementation of the teaching method. The study focused on the changes in content deployment in textbooks as such changes require assessment on whether they require direct changes to the teaching method. The outcome of the study can be summarized as the following. Firstly, changes in the content deployment methods of textbooks are made in various forms and approaches. Secondly, the way of describing contents has deviated from historical narrative.
The change of the teaching method is inevitable as the content deployment methods are transformed to enhance readability and to shift focus from knowledge transfer to activity-oriented manner. Moreover, British English education curriculum, teaching materials, teaching aids, and English the teaching method that came from outside helped to solve the thirst for new teaching method. However, it is not an easy task to change the teaching method for the vast majority of North Korean teachers who have not been exposed to the ‘global education development trend.’

Book Review

Institute of the Humanities for Unification at Konkuk University. Retch'u t'ongil [Let’s Unify!] Series.
Retch'u t'ongil: ch'iyu-wa t'onghap [Let’s Unify! Healing and Integration]. Seoul: Thinksmart, 2019. 128 pages. ISBN: 9788965292098.
Retch'u t'ongil: p'yonghwa-wa sot'ong [Let’s Unify! Peace and Communication]. Seoul: Thinksmart, 2019. 128 pages. ISBN: 9788965292081.

Kim Hyemi

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.7 No.1 pp.101-109

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2021.7.1.101

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Articles

Courting the “Traitor to the Arab Cause”: Egyptian-North Korean Relations in the Sadat Era, 1970-1981

Balázs Szalontai

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.5 No.1 pp.103-136

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2019.5.1.103

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Abstract

his article analyzes the diplomatic aspects of Egyptian-North Korean relations, with a brief overview of the era of Gamal Abdel Nasser and with a focus on Anwar el-Sadat’s presidency. On the basis of Hungarian, U.S., and Romanian archival documents, it investigates why the post-1973 reorientation of Egyptian foreign policy toward a pro-American position did not lead to a breakdown of the Egyptian-North Korean partnership. The article describes such episodes as North Korea’s military contribution to the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, Egyptian-North Korean cooperation in the Non-Aligned Movement, Kim Il Sung’s equivocal reactions to the Egyptian-Israeli peace process, and the militant Arab states’ dissatisfaction with Pyongyang’s unwillingness to condemn the “treacherous” Camp David Accords. It concludes that the main pillars of the Sadat-Kim Il Sung partnership were their simultaneous cooperation with China, their shared enmity for the USSR, and their fear of diplomatic isolation. Still, the North Korean leaders, anxious as they were to prevent an Egyptian-South Korean rapprochement, were more often compelled to adapt to Egypt’s diplomatic preferences than vice versa. The ambivalence, vacillation, prevarication, and opportunism that characterized Pyongyang’s interactions with Cairo belied the common image of North Korea as an iron-willed, militant state cooperating with other revolutionary regimes on the basis of equality, mutual trust, and anti-imperialist solidarity.

Articles

Post-unification Inter-Korean Intercultural Communication: Examining the Impact of History Education on New Identity Formation

Wonjung Min

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.2 No.1 pp.105-121

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2016.2.1.105

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Abstract

How will the reunification of Korea impact the population and enable them to confront their history and recognize themselves as citizens of a new Unified Korea? As cultural identity is ubiquitous in intercultural communication and across social science disciplines, this study seeks to analyze the formation of different identities in both North Korea and South Korea during the almost 70 years of division. This analysis will focus on the distinct interpretations of three major topics by both Koreas: 1) Korean Mythology, specifically, the Myth of Dangun, 2) the Perceived Meaning of Independence, and 3) the Korean War-comparisons which have been ignored by most of the research to date related to the Korean Peninsula.
Intercultural communication attempts to establish reciprocity through the exchange of information and values between parties hitherto unknown to each other. In this process, it is vital to examine which historical elements of the Koreas that can be employed to reduce nationalistic and ethnocentric views and stereotypes, to develop mutual positive perceptions, to promote reconciliation, and to facilitate conflict resolution and form common regional perspectives. This study will focus on ideology, individual identity and intercultural communication to analyze the current relationship between the history education and social identity formation of both Koreas. As such, it will examine how each social identity formation can provide narratives about the transformation of former enemy groups from enmity to being considered members of the same society. Korostelina describes North Korean history education as an example of the impact that history textbooks can have on the formation of an ideological mode of national identity. What have others said about the impact of Korean history textbooks on the above mentioned topics?

Traversing the Crossroads : Voice and Music of Song Myŏng-Hwa and The Artistic Troupe Kŭmgangsan kagŭktan In Japan’s North Korean Community

Jeong, Ae-Ran

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.1 No.1 pp.107-139

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2015.1.1.107

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Abstract

Kŭmgangsan kagŭktan titles itself “Chosŏn troupe in Japan.” Founded in Tokyo (1955), the company is composed of 50 artists working on dance, song and music, referring specifically to the aesthetics of North Korea with which the troupe has developed a close relationship since its birth. The paper examines the vocal techniques practiced by a female singer of Kŭmgangsan kagŭktan in the frame of sound, song and rhythm while tracing various aspects of North Korean vocal techniques, the process of transmission and adaptations the company singer makes for the Japanese stage. I suggest, the singer trains herself not to reproduce a particular stylized form and/or method but open herself, traversing crossroads, following her own artistic path, so to speak, finding a negotiated voice involved in a process I describe as the aesthetics of differentiation.

Interview

An Interview with Paik Nak-chung

Interviewee: Paik Nak-chung

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.6 No.2 pp.107-129

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Abstract

Contributing Essay

Remembering the Start of Exchanges between North and South Korean Women

Kim Yun-ok

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.8 No.1 pp.109-130

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Abstract

Russia’s Vision of Re-unified Korea’s Place in the Northeast Asian Security System

Alexander Zhebin

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.2 No.2 pp.111-121

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2016.2.2.111

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This paper will examine Russia’s policy concerning Korea’s re-unification and Moscow’s likely responses to possible results of the unification process as a major and necessary element of peace-building in Northeast Asia. Since the middle of the 19th century Russia has had a keen interest in the situation on the Korean peninsula. History repeatedly proved that any aggravation of the situation on the peninsula caused serious concerns and made Russia to take additional steps to ensure her security. So both for security reasons and for smooth development of her Far Eastern region, Russia is vitally interested in maintaining peace and stability on the Korean peninsula. Emergence of the re-unified Korea, however, is likely to create a new situation in the region and make Russia to re-evaluate her policy in Northeast Asia. It is generally accepted notion that Russia will benefit, first of all, from liquidation of a long-time hot spot right next to her Far Eastern region and from founding the re-unified Korea, which is supposedly will maintain relations of friendship, good-neighborhood and cooperation with Russia and other neighboring states. Meanwhile, at the moment, better relations between North and South Korea, along with providing Russia with more favorable conditions for development of trade and economic cooperation with both parts of Korea, would also open new opportunities for economic development of the Russian Far East and for linking Russia’s economy to globalization and integration processes in the Asia-Pacific region. So both on security and economic reasons Moscow is vitally interested in reconciliation between North and South Korea and eventual emergence of a peaceful and neutral Korea.

Interview

An Interview with Han S. Park

Interviewer: Park Jai-In

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.7 No.1 pp.113-131

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Abstract

Book Review

Zhihua Shen and Yafeng Xia, A Misunderstood Friendship: Mao Zedong, Kim Il-sung, and Sino-North Korean Relations, 1949-1976. New York: Columbia University Press, 2018. 376 pages. ISBN: 9780231188265.

Robert Lauler

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.5 No.2 pp.115-124

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2019.5.2.115

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Book Review

Harrison Cheehyung Kim, Heroes and Toilers: Work as Life in Postwar North Korea, 1953–1961 (New York: Columbia University Press, 2018). ISBN: 9780231546096, 280 Pages. Keywords: Kim

Hae Eun Shin

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.7 No.2 pp.117-124

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2021.7.2.117

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Abstract

Promoting Similarities in the Cultural Humanity for Guidance on Reducing Conflicts and Increasing Harmony in Korean Companies in Vietnam

Tran Thi Thu Luong

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.3 No.2 pp.119-139

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2017.3.2.119

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Based on the findings on similarities and differences in the Korean and Vietnamese cultural features, and the social surveys conducted as part of the project ”Compiling, Publishing and Disseminating the Handbook of Korean-Vietnamese Behavior” by South Korean Studies Center, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City (USSH-VNU-HCM) with the support of the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS) from September to October 2016,the paper covers the three points: First, analyzing similarities that create a special interaction effect between the two cultures. They are ones underlying the spectacular development of the Korea-Vietnam relations during the past time. Among them are similarities in the humanity and tolerance with a distinctive feature of “respect for affection”, playing the most important role;second, analyzing cultural collisions caused by distinctive features in the structures of the two countries’ traditional cultures. They include those of the South Korean culture namely strong hiarachy, high respect of routines, and self-esteem of mono-culture and those of the Vietnamese culture namely strongvillage democracy, low respect of formalities, resistance to imposed culture; and simultaneously analyzing the gaps in the modernity of the Vietnamese workers` culture compared to the requirements of modern production in Korean enterprises so as to point out that they are reasons for the increase of conflicts in Korean enterprises’ operation process in Vietnam; and third, suggesting, based on the analysis, some cultural solutions to increase harmony and reduce conflicts, supporting a sustainable development of the Korea-Vietnam cooperation in Korean enterprises in Vietnam.

Church Networks Facilitating Entrepreneurship among North Korean Defectors in South Korea: A Mixed Method Study

Marianne Jung

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.8 No.2 pp.119-146

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2022.8.2.119

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Abstract

North and South Koreans share the same historic and ethnocultural background. However, North Korean defectors in South Korea are made into a socially marginalized group “other” to South Koreans. A growing number of defectors who settled in South Korea have therefore turned to selfemployment to seek economic independence. Literature of sociology explains that immigrant entrepreneurship is facilitated through co-ethnic networks and communities. This article argues that this theoretical concept cannot be used as an explanatory factor in the case of North Korean entrepreneurship in South Korea. Both quantitative and qualitative data suggest that North Korean defectors are highly versatile in recognizing and implementing business opportunities. Based on a mixed-method approach, this article shows that there is no strong North-Korean community used as a strategic resource for self-employment. One resource that stands out is that church communities become centers for comprehensive support of North Korean defectors. North Korean defectors seem to form new social networks among the Protestant church community as source of business opportunities and support. This article thereby contributes to the theorization and the state of art on North Korean defector entrepreneurship.

Book Review

‘Under the Demilitarized Zone...the Beach’: or Reading Choi through Guy Debord’s ‘Society of the Spectacle’

Robert Winstanley-Chesters

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.1 No.2 pp.121-128

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2015.1.2.121

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Theoretical Basis of Translating the Chosŏnwangjosillok

Song Hyŏn Wŏn

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.2 No.1 pp.123-149

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2016.2.1.123

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The Chosŏnwangjosillok (Annals of Chosŏn Dynasty; Sillok) not only contains the history of our ancestors, but also covers a broad spectrum of different fields, ranging from diplomatic relations with neighboring countries and economic issues such as taxation and land, to natural sciences such as astronomy and meteorology. The value of the Sillok as a historical record is already well recognized even outside of Korea. Unfortunately, the Sillok was written in hanmun, thus translation is inevitable. This thesis is indeed about the translation process of the Sillok, explaining, using concrete examples, various principles and careful considerations that need to be adhered to during translation.
The first principle in translating the Sillok is keeping to the original as much as possible. However, there are some problems inherent within the Sillok. There are many parts that only experts of that field can understand, such as science or music. Furthermore, the fact that, due to conflict between different political factions, revised annals exist also has to be taken into consideration. The next principle is that the Sillok must be translated using pure Korean and standard Korean language rules. Rather than mechanically transliterating the texts by simply adding Korean postpositional particles to hancha and hanmun-style expressions, the translator must be able to maintain characteristics of the original text, at the same time allowing people of the modern era to read and understand it. But one must also remain vigilant to make sure that the translation does not excessively modernize the text, thereby diluting the meaning of historical sentences. Translation is a process of rendering a text in a language different from the original. In order to be able to translate accurately, the translator has to have sufficient understanding of the original language. The major difference between Korean hanmun and Chinese hanmun is that the former contains idu. Although hanmun originally came from China, it changed according to Korean circumstances,leading to the development of Korean-style hanmun. It adapted to Korean culture but could also easily combine with Chinese hanmun. In regard to the use of idu, hancha words that are unique to Korean hanmun are particularly important. These characteristics are all reflected in the Sillok. Therefore, how to properly translate Korean-style hanmun sentences is very important in the translation process. This thesis explains these characteristics using concrete examples like names of places and people.
Various methodologies are required in translating a national heritage such as the Chosŏnwangjosillok to befit the modern era while maintaining its uniqueness. The most important thing is not to damage the original. The paper looks into various considerations that must be made in order to render a good translation, in order to contribute to future attempts to translate the Sillok.

Book Review

The Three Ecologies for True Ecology

Park Min-Cheol

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.2 No.2 pp.125-131

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2016.2.2.125

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Abstract

Book Review

Ruth Barraclough, “Red Love in Korea: Rethinking Communism, Feminism and Sexuality” in Red Love Across the Pacific: Political and Sexual Revolutions of the Twentieth Century

Robert Winstanley-Chesters

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.3 No.1 pp.125-133

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2017.3.1.125

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Articles

Fleeing from the Kantō Massacre and Its Psychological Aftermath

Chong Yongsu

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.6 No.1 pp.125-144

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2020.6.1.125

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This paper examines the survivors’ and bereaved families' experiences of the Kantō Massacre in September 1923 and seeks to draw a connection between said experiences and their movements after the tragedy, focusing on the fear planted in the ethnic Koreans as psychological damage caused by the massacre. This fear manifested itself in various physical behaviors such as fleeing, hiding, or pretending to be Japanese, which defined the lives of the traumatized ethnic Koreans long after the massacre. Although the facts of the massacre had been disseminated throughout the Korean community by students and workers, what was significant in the memory of the massacre was the repeated issue of rumors about and persecution of Koreans in Japan even after the Great Kantō Earthquake. The situation worsened after Japan’s final defeat in the war and led to the rise of fears among the ethnic Koreans of being massacred, which led to the resurgence of ethnic Koreans fleeing as they had during and immediately following the Kantō Earthquake.

A Digital Humanities Approach to Inter-Korean Linguistic Divergence: Stylometric Analysis of ROK and DPRK Journalistic Texts

Simon Barnes Sadler

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.4 No.1 pp.127-153

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2018.4.1.127

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Abstract

Linguistic divergence between standard varieties of Korean has been much studied, however, it has largely concerned itself with fine-grained analyses of single points of divergence, for example vocabulary, and the language policy behind such divergence. In contrast, this paper examines general trends of language in use in the ROK and DPRK in a specific genre of writing. We first briefly review prior research on the linguistic divergence which the standard varieties of these countries have undergone to contextualize our argument that a digital humanities approach could provide new insights for the field. This includes taking advantage of internet mediated data collection and quantitative analyses applied to relatively large amounts of data. In order to demonstrate the potential of this approach more fully, we present a small-scale stylometric analysis of ROK and DPRK journalistic texts. This pilot study suggests that national origin determines the stylistic characteristics of these texts to a greater extent than the topic and allows us to tentatively propose general characterizing features of ROK and DPRK journalistic style. We conclude with a prospectus for the incorporation of such methods into the study of ROK/DPRK linguistic divergence.

Interview

An Interview with Jeong Se-hyun "Hanbando t'ongil-gwa kukche chŏngse," in Han'guk chisŏng-gwaŭi t'ongil taedam (Seoul: Paradigm Book, 2018)

Interviewer: Kim Sung-Min

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.7 No.2 pp.127-146

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Abstract

Panmunjom Regime: a Global Historical Exploration for Peace as Social Solidarity

Cho, Bae-Joon

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.1 No.2 pp.129-138

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2015.1.2.129

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Articles

An Emotional Relationship: Trust, Admiration, and Fear in North Korea-Zimbabwe Relations, 1976-1988

Benjamin R. Young

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.4 No.2 pp.129-149

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2018.4.2.129

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Abstract

Despite being located faraway from one another, North Korean leader Kim Il Sung and Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe formed an unlikely friendship during the late 1970s and 1980s. As guerilla fighters-turned postcolonial leaders, these two autocrats developed close emotional bonds built around admiration, fear, and trust. Using archival sources from the United Kingdom’s National Archives, North Korean press reports, and journalistic accounts, this article emphasizes emotions as a window into examining this Afro-Asian alliance. From wanting to emulate North Korea’s land reform program to sending a group of librarians and academics to the communist state to learn from Pyongyang’s educational system, Mugabe’s government admired the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) as a model of socialist development during the 1980s. Fearing instability at home, Mugabe also sought North Korea military assistance to squash his political rivals. Finally, Mugabe trusted Pyongyang as a “war-time friend” that had always been there for his African state. Thus, Zimbabwe continues to align itself in the post-Cold War era with North Korea while much of the world cuts off ties with the increasingly isolated state.

Inquiring of Park Yu-ha, the Counsel of the Empire

Byung-Soo Lee

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.2 No.2 pp.133-139

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2016.2.2.133

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Abstract

Park Tae Gyun and Jung Changhyun, Amsal [Assassination]

Jean Do

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.3 No.1 pp.135-143

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2017.3.1.135

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Abstract

Beyond Learning English: North Korean Refugee College Students’ Reflective Process on English Education

Shin Sunghee, Kim Booyuel

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.5 No.1 pp.137-154

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2019.5.1.137

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English is one of the major factors that impede the success of North Korean refugees’ adaptation to South Korea in terms of pursuing college education and getting a job. This article attempts to illustrate North Korean refugee college students’ hopes and anxieties about learning English through a reflective process. To examine comprehensive qualitative data about their perceptions toward English education, North Korean refugee college students were invited to English classes in private institutes in South Korea. After experiencing English classes for six months, in-depth interviews were conducted with twenty-four students ranging in age from twenty-one to forty-eight. Based on Gibbs’ reflective process framework that promotes meta-thinking about their own learning experience, the refugees’ reflections on English education were categorized into the following themes: education and meaning of life, importance of post-caring, determinants of motivation for class attendance, and ambivalent view on English education. Suggestions are made from the findings regarding North Korean refugee college students’ hopes and anxieties about education in Korea and future English programs.

Book Review

Ideology and Reality by Park Chi-Woo

Suh, Yu-Suk

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.1 No.1 pp.143-151

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2015.1.1.143

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Book Review

Kim Myung-Hee, The Possibility of Intergrated Human Sciences

Lee Ki-Hong

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.3 No.2 pp.143-153

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2017.3.2.143

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The author’s questioning starts off from the series of suicides committed by Ssangyong Motors workers since 2009. She argues that “If the issue of suicide in Korean society is considered a problem of both Korean capitalism and social solidarity and morals, then we have to forge a social theory that is based on our reality.” (p.10) Based on such recognition, the author then identifies two tasks to be performed in her book. “First, I shall seek to manifest and rectify the structure and the error of the dichotomous interpretation that has been imposed on Marx and Durkheim. Second, by critically looking into the rational core shared by the social science methodologies of Marx and Durkheim and the theoretical and practical prospects built upon it, I shall search for a theory capable of effectively intervening into social suffering, i.e., the possibility of a naturalist social science.” (p.24; 106)

Locating Kŭmo sinhwa within the History of World Literature

Kang Pokshil

S/N Korean Humanities :: Vol.6 No.1 pp.145-158

https://doi.org/10.17783/IHU.2020.6.1.145

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This paper examines Kŭmo sinhwa, the collection of stories by the fifteenth-century Chosŏn philosopher and writer Kim Sisŭp (1435–1493) within the history of world literature by focusing on its unique contribution as one of the earliest forms of prose fiction and wider impact on the literary tradition of other countries. Kim’s Kŭmo sinhwa was a work of prose fiction that appeared at a relatively early period in history and an important work that reflects the principles and development of the literary tradition in Chosŏn. The stories in Kŭmo sinhwa, descriptive of the tendencies and aims of its people and filled with trenchant criticisms of social problems, hold their rightful place in the canon of fifteenth-century world literature. Kŭmo sinhwa is also notable in the influence that it has exercised on foreign literary traditions. Kim’s stories attracted a devoted readership in Japan, and they played a pivotal role in the emergence of the Japanese story collection Otogibōko.