Calculated Nationalism in Contemporary South Korea (original) (raw)
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The Cultural Anatomy of Korean Nationalism: from imperative to anachronism
InContext: Studies in Translation and Multiculturalism, 2021
Most foreign observers are struck by the highly palpable nature of Korean nationalist sentiment, especially during times of friction with Japan or during major international sporting events such as the Olympic Games, the Asian Games, or the World Cup. However, if these observers spend any significant time in Korea they often become aware that South Korean society is a highly fractious landscape characterized by conflicting ideologies, regional antagonisms, segregation by class, and a number of other societal fault lines. The natural question is what role, if any, this very visible nationalism plays in uniting South Korean society in the absence of any external stimulus and, if it does not, what the reason is. This essay argues that constructing Korean nationalism based largely on a common blood lineage has rendered it ineffectual in ameliorating intra-Korean conflict. In fact, Kang Jeongin and Jeong Sunghyeon have proposed the concept of the "overdetermination of other theories by nationalism." This is the idea that minjokjuui, or ethnic nationalism, by virtue of its near religious status, is used to bestow authenticity, genuineness, or authority on disparate ideologies. The radical left and right attack each other from the position of being the bastion of "real" or " true" Korean-ness representing the minjok. This is also the method used by the governments of both Koreas to demonstrate their legitimacy as the rightful representative of the Korean people. This essay, after discussing the process of the formation of Korean nationalism, first problematizes the sacred and tribal characteristics of modern Korean ethnic nationalisms and posits that the unique process of its formation has resulted in a doctrinaire-like ideology that actually contributes to division, then it poses a number of questions as to nationalism's current function in society.
Cultural Anatomy of Korean Nationalism
INContext: Studies in Translation and Interculturalism
ABSTRACT: Most foreign observers are struck by the highly palpable nature of Korean nationalist sentiment, especially during times of friction with Japan or during major international sporting events such as the Olympic Games or the World Cup. However, if these observers spend any significant time in Korea, they often become aware that South Korean society is a highly fractious landscape characterized by conflicting ideologies, regional antagonisms, segregation by class, and a number of other societal fault lines. The natural question is what role, if any, this very visible nationalism plays in uniting South Korean society in the absence of any external stimulus and, if it does not, what the reason is. This essay argues that constructing Korean nationalism based largely on a common blood lineage has rendered it ineffectual in ameliorating intra-Korean conflict. In fact, Kang Jung In and Jung Seung Hyun have proposed the concept of the “overdetermination of other theories by national...
Nostalgic nationalists in South Korea: the flag-carriers' struggles
Critical Asian Studies, 2021
ABSTRACT The 2016–2017 Candlelight Revolution was one of the most significant events in recent South Korean politics, but little attention has been paid to the powerful conservative counter-movement that accompanied and followed the candlelight protests. This countermovement was symbolized by demonstrations by flag-carriers who found Park Geun-Hye’s impeachment and Moon Jae-In’s inauguration incomprehensible. They argued that Park was innocent, called for her release from prison, and claimed that Moon’s election was illegitimate. An analysis of speeches made during conservative counter-protests between 2016 and 2019 illustrates how these activists reject the values of a new era in South Korean political and economic life. Instead, their speeches conveyed a clear desire to have the legacy of the industrialization generation recognized in contemporary South Korea. These flag-carriers are evidence that a marginalized set of desires and aspirations about South Korean nationalism and identity coexist with the progressive views of the candlelight protesters. The persistence of such an intense and partisan worldview, however, poses a threat to the future of liberal democracy in South Korea.
2017
This dissertation is a study of a political process of nationalist discourses in post-democratization South Korea. It traces the changes in the nationalist discourses formed around the 'comfort women' issue after the democratization from 1988 to 2007, focusing on discursive strategies of the movement and media reports. Despite a surfeit studies of nationalism concerning its formation and the conflicts of different ethnic groups between the nation-states or within a multi-ethnic nation, little research has been reported on the dynamics of nationalist discourses from different social groups after a robust nationalism settled in relatively homogeneous nation-states. By illuminating changes of the monopolized state-centered nationalist narratives established during the 1960s and 70s into diversified narratives of the Korean nation emerged after the democratization movements in the 1980s, this dissertation highlights the role of social movements in providing a moral ground for the nationalized people to challenge the official narrative of a nation. The frame analysis on the statements released on the Wednesday Demonstration by the comfort women movement illustrates the dynamic process of the movements' strategies, working with the official narrative of Korean nation. It also explores the interaction between the movement and larger society by analyzing the reports on the 'comfort women' issue in the Chosun Ilbo and the Hankyoreh. It concludes that the Korean nationalism after democratization is not merely made by the state or political elites, but a result of the constant struggle of different political and social agents in the society. The official narrative of the Korean nation, which is state-centered, patriarchal and prioritizing the economic values and efficiency, has been constantly modified as various social movements, particularly the comfort women movement, after the democratization. The movement engages in (re)constructing the nationalist identity with a communitarian nationalist discursive strategy, based more on the universal value and can be expanded to transnational sympathy.
Nationalism and Democracy Revisited: The Limits of Democratic Nationalism in South Korea
The Korean Journal of International Studies, 2013
In this article I explore the limits of democratic nationalism, whose political claims to civic unity cannot consolidate democratization at the local level. First, explaining why antiauthoritarian nationalism in South Korea failed to overcome the statist aspiration for democratization during the transition to democracy in 1987, I argue that the benefits of strong nationalistic inclination in South Korea are less tightly connected to the values of grassroots democracy. Second, I emphasize that while nationalism or national unity is not necessarily incompatible with democracy, it should be supplemented with the values of nondomination as intermediate ideals conducive to regulate a civil society in tension.
History and political science often co-mingle in studies of nationalism. While historians are more concerned with how the past events turned countries into nation-states, political scientists look at how the growth of a nation has affected their nationalism and how this influences their country and its citizens in the contemporary world. The ongoing conflict of divided Korea and the increasing economic disparity between the North and South made books on the topic of Korean nationalism much more important. It is through this complex and unusual creation of the two Korean states that has prompted such a need to understand their history and nationalism. Political history of Korea within this scope of Korean nationalism is the main idea of the authors presented within this review essay.