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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 May 2025
If we wish to define Koreans twentieth century in a word, “the century of nationalism” would be the most plausible definition. From the perspective of Koreans internal socio-political situation, nationalism, as Andre Schmid aptly observed, from the very beginning provided the legitimising framework for the modern concept of equal, universal citizenship. Former slaves, members of discriminated hereditary professional groups (butchers etc.), women - all were to be accepted as equal “nationals” since national salvation, prosperity and eventual greatness required national cohesion and everyone's contribution to the national cause. Ethnic nationalism is hardly a popular concept now anywhere, including South Korea (which, at least in theory, switched from the early 2000s to multiculturalism, and strives now to integrate its ethnic minority populations), but, as Henry Em argues, the concept of Korea's ethnic nation (minjok) did possess democratic meaning in the early twentieth-century context. The historiography which focused on the progressive development of the ethnic nation was able to do away with traditional patterns of dynastic history. In a word, nationalism was the main discursive force behind the creation of an all-inclusive democratic vision of modern “Koreanness”. From the very beginning of the modern age, defining all Koreans as first and foremost Koreans became possible precisely in the nationalist context.
1 An earlier draft of this paper was presented at Cambridge University as a part of the Ra Jong- Yil Lectures Series on October 28, 2011. (link)
2 See: Gi-Wook Shin, Ethnic Nationalism in Korea: Geneology, Politics and Legacy (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006).
3 Andre Schmid, Korea between Empires, 1895-1919 (NY: Columbia University Press, 2002), 38-42.
4 Henry Em, “Minjok as a Modern and Democratic Construct: Sin Ch'aeho's Historiography,” Gi-Wook Shin and Michael Robinson eds, Colonial Modernity in Korea (Harvard: Harvard University Press, 1999), 335-362.
5 Chŏn Myŏnghyŏk, 1920 nyŏndae Han'guk Sahoejuŭi m Undong Yŏn'gu [The Research on the 1920s Korean Socialist Movement] (Seoul: Sŏn'in, 2006), 21-83.
6 Lee Namhee, The Making of Minjung: Democracy and the Politics of Representation in South Korea (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2007), 21-145.
7 Kwŏn Insuk, Taehan Min'guk ŭn Kundae da [Republic of Korea is an Army] (Seoul: Ch’ŏngnyŏnsa, 2005).
8 Sheila Miyoshi Jager, Narratives of Nation Building in Korea.
9 On the positive image of Israel in Park Chong Hee's South Korea, see: Ch'oe Ch'angmo, “Han'guk Sahoe ŭi Yudaein Imiji ŭi Pyŏnch’ŏnsa Sogo” [Jewish Images in Korean Mind: Past to Present]. Han'guk Isŭllam Hakhoe Nonch'ong 18/1 (2008): 113-139. On Park's developmentalist ideology and its use of foreign antecedents see: Han'guk Chŏngch'i Yŏn'guhoe ed., Pak Chŏnghŭi rŭl nŏmŏsŏ [Beyond Park Chong Hee] (Seoul: P'urŭn Sup, 1998).
10 Han Sŏkchŏng, “Pak Chŏnghŭi, Hogŭn Manjuguk p'an Hai Modŏnijŭm ŭi Hwaksan” [Pak Chong Hee, or the Spread of Manchuguo- Style High Modernism]. Ilbon P'yŏngnon 3 (2010): 120-138.
11 Kim Yŏng'uk, “Yi Pyŏngch’ŏl ŭi Ilbon Mobang kwa Ch'uwŏl e kwanhan siron” [An Attempt to Inquire into Yi Pyŏngch’ŏl's Imitation of and Overtaking of Japan]. Ilbon P'yŏngnon 3 (2010): 192-216.
12 Balazs Szalontai. Kim Il Sung in the Khrushchev Era: Soviet-DPRK Relations and the Roots of North Korean Despotism, 1953-1964 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006).
13 Hyŏngmyŏng ŭi widaehan suryŏng Kim Il Sŏng tongji kkesŏ Chosŏn Rodongdang che 5 cha taehoe esŏ hasin Chung’ ang Wiwŏnhoe Saŏp ch'onghwa pogo e taehan haesŏl [Explanations of the Great Revolutionary Leader Kim Il Sŏng's report to the 5th Congress of the Korean Workers’ Party on the activities of its Central Committee] (Pyongyang: Inmin Ch'ulp'ansa, 1971), 205-240.
14 The memorandum may be found in the Archive of Russian Federation's Foreign Policy (1-59). See it cited in: Pak Chonghyo, Rŏsiya Yŏnbang Oemusŏng Taehan Chŏngchfaek Charyo [Materials on Russia's Korea Policy from the Archives of the Russian Federation's Foreign Ministry] (Seoul: Sŏn'in, 2010), Vol. 2, 289.
15 See: “Signing of a Protocol Agreement for North Korea to Send a Number of Pilots to Fight the American Imperialists during the War of Destruction against North Vietnam“. Vietnam Ministry of Defense Central Archives, Central Military Party Committee Collection, File No. 433. 30 September 1966. Obtained and translated for NKIDP (North Korea International Documentation Project) by Merle Pribbenow and included in NKIDP e-Dossier No. 2.
16 Yi Minhŭi, Paran, P'ollandŭ, Ppolsŭkka! [P'aran, Poland, Polska!] (Seoul: Somyŏng, 2005).
17 Pak Ŭnsik, “Munyak chi p'ye nŭn p'ilsang kiguk” [Literary Weakness Destroys a Country]. Sou 10 (1908): 1-6.
18 “Chŏngsin kwa kamgak” [Spirit and Senses]. Hwangsŏng Sinmun, February 6, 1907: 2 (Hwangsŏng Sinmun. Seoul: Han, guk Munhwa Kaebalsa, 1971, Vol.14, 310).
19 “Kuksŏng paeyangnon” [On Cultivation of Nationality]. Hwangsŏng Sinmun, August 22, 1909: 2 (Hwangsŏng Sinmun. Seoul: Han, guk Munhwa Kaebalsa, 1971, Vol.19, 386).
20 Andrew Eungi Kim and Gil-sung Park, “Nationalism, Confucianism, Work Ethics and Industrialization in South Korea” Journal of Contemporary Asia 33/1 (2003): 37-49; Hong Sŏngťae, Kaebalchuŭi rŭl Pip'anhanda [Criticizing the Developmentalism] (Seoul: Tangdae, 2007), 236-290.
21 Pak Yonghŭi, “Pisamaek Chŏn” [Bismarck's Biography] T'aegŭk Hakpo 8 (March 1907): 21-26; TJaegŭk Hakpo 9 (April 1907): 28-30; T'aegŭk Hakpo 10 (May 1907): 33-37.
22 Hwang Yundŏk. Pisamaek chon [Bismarck's Biography] (Seoul: Posŏnggwan, 1907).
23 Sasakawa Kiyoshi, Bisumāku [Bismarck] (Tokyo: Hakubunkan, 1899).
24 Fukuyama Yoshiharu, Washoton [Washington] (Tokyo: Hakubunkan, 1900).
25 Ding Jin, trans., Huashengdun [Washington] (Shanghai: Wenming Shuju, 1903).
26 Yi Haejo, Hwasŏngdon Chŏn [Biography of Washington] (Seoul: Hoedong Sŏgwan, 1908).
27 Ch'oe Wŏnsik, “’Hwasŏngdon chŏn’ yŏn'gu: Aeguk Kyemonggi ŭi Choji Wŏsington suyong” [The Reception of George Washington in Korean Enlightenment Period - on ‘Biography of Washington’]. Minjok Munhaksa Yŏn'u 18 (2001): 273-299.
28 Yi Haejo, Hwasŏngdon Chŏn, 5.
29 Liang Qichao. Yingbingshi Heji [Collected Works from an Ice-Drinker's Studio] (Shanghai: Zhonghua shuju, 1936), Vol.6, fasc.19, 15-28.
30 Liang Qichao. Yingbingshi Heji, 23-28.
31 Hyŏn Ch'ae trans. Wŏllam Mangguksa [History of the Loss of Vietnam] (Seoul, 1906).
32 Ch'oe Kiyŏng, Han'guk Kŭndae Kyemong Sasang Yŏn'gu [Research on the Modern Korean Enlightenment Ideology] (Seoul: Ilchogak, 2003), 294-326.
33 Ch'oe Kiyŏng, “Kugyŏk ‘Wŏllam Mangguksa’ e kwanhan koch'al” [A Research on the Korean Translation of the ‘History of the Loss of Vietnam’]. Tong'a Yŏn'gu 6 (1985): 487-506.
34 Pak Chongnin, “1910 nyŏndae Chaeil Yuhaksaeng ŭi Sahoejuŭi Sasang Suyong kwa ‘Kim Ch’ŏlsu kŭrup’” [The Acceptance of Socialist Ideas by the Korean Students in Japan in the 1910s and the “Kim Ch’ŏlsu Group’], In Panjŏn ŭro pon Tong'asia [East Asia Viewed through Anti-war Ideas]. ed. Pak Chinsu and Chong Munsang (Seoul: Hyean, 2008), 119-145.
35 An Chaesong, Pak Hŏnyŏng P'yŏng’ŏn [The Critical Biography of Pak Honyong] (Seoul: Silch'on Munhaksa, 2009).
36 Pak Songgwan, “Pukhan ŭi Tae Tongnam'a oegyo pyŏnhwa” [The Changes in North Koreans Southeast Asia Policy]. Kukche Chŏngch'i Nonch'ong 43/3 (2003): 235-253.
37 Some of the stories recorded by Song in Vietnam mix human sympathy and boundless admiration for the Vietnamese comrades. Such is the story of a former female guerrilla leader - later to become a professional soldier - from the rural district of Kien Xaong in Thai Binh Province, Red River delta. She is described as a young woman with a kind and welcoming face, who was, however, tempered by a tribulations - hungry childhood in the service of a greedy and cruel landowner, the efforts to overcome the patriarchal prejudices of male partisan leaders who initially did not want to allow a women to fight the French together on an equal footing, inhuman tortures by French military intelligence, loss of beloved elder brother tortured to death by the French etc. She was, however, anything but a passive victim of abuse and prejudice - Song describes her as a selfconfident initiative-taker trying to influence wider society through her work at the village Women's Federation. Song Yŏng, Wŏllam Ilgi [Vietnam Diary] (Pyongyang: Chosŏn Chakka Tongmaeng Ch'ulp'ansa, 1957), 217-227.
38 Song Kŏnho, “Tongnam'a Yŏsŏng ŭi imo chŏmo” [Various Traits of Southeast Asian Women]. Yŏwŏn 3 (1966): 201-203. Cited in: Kim Mi-ran, “The Vietnam War and Sexuality: An Analysis of the Images of Ao Dai and Vietcong as Represented in the Meida”. The
Lines: Asian Perspectives 2 (2011): 81-107.
39 Kim Mi-ran, “The Vietnam War and Sexuality,” 100-101.
40 It is well-known, for example, that the name of the National Liberation Front of South Korea (Namchosŏn Minjok Haebang Chŏnsŏn, or Namminjŏn, 1976-1979), an underground group which aimed at liberating South Koreans from Park Chong Hee's regime through en eventual workers’ armed uprising, was modelled on the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, which the South Korean activists enthusiastically admired. “Munhak ŭro mannanŭn yoksa 33. Kim Namju ssi ‘Chŏnsa 2’” (The History met through Literature: 33. Mr. Kim Namju: “Militant 2”) Han'gyŏre October 15, 1996: 15.
41 Kim Tongmyong, “Tongbang ŭi yongsa: Indo ege” [To India, Orienťs Valiant Warrior], Sinsaeng 4/4 (April 1931). Cited in: Yi Oksun, Singmmji Chosŏn ŭi Hŭimang kwa Chŏlmang, Indo [Colonial Korea's Hope and Despair, India] (Seoul: P'urŭn Yŏksa, 2006), 41-43.
42 Cited in: Yi Oksun, Singminji Chosŏn ŭi Hŭimang kwa Chŏlmang, Indo, 30-125.
43 Karl Haub and O.P. Sharma, “India's Population Reality: Reconciling Change and Tradition”. Population Bulletin 61/3 (September 2006).
44 Yon Hoťaek, “Munmyong ŭi twian, oji ŭi saram tŭl” [Beyond the Civilization, the Hinterland Peoples]. Tong'a Ilbo, April 24, 1997: 21.
45 “Himallaya Ch'uwi Nogil Han'gukmin ŭi Chagŭn Onjŏng” [Small warm-heartedness of the Korean People Melted down the Cold of Himalayas]. Tong'a Ilbo, April 21, 1994: 31.
46 Chonghap Kihaengmunjip: Nail Kangban esŏ [Collected Travelogues: On the Shores of Nile] (Pyongyang: Chosŏn Chakka Tongmaeng Ch'ulp'ansa, 1958), 5-41.
47 Im Sundŭk, Ijŭl su ŏmnŭn saram tŭl [Unforgettable People] (Pyongyang: Chosŏn Nyŏsŏngsa, 1955), 5-15, 101-123127-145.
48 One of the very few Anglophone researchers to study North Korean 1940-50s’ “friendship stories” featuring Soviet characters, Brian Myers, alleges that the attitude towards the USSR in these stories was “obsequious” and that the Soviet personages were seen as “parents” (rather than “teachers” or “elder brothers/sisters”）) supposed to “care for the emasculated Korean men”. See: Brian Myers, “Mother Russia: Soviet Characters in North Korean Fiction”. Korean Studies 16 (1992): 82-93. Analysis of Im Sundŭk's book (which Myers did not deal with in his article), however, does not support these conclusions. Gratitude toward the Soviet Army - which, aside from its role in defeating imperial Japan, was also seen as the ultimate guarantee of DPRK's security - should not be confused with “obsequiousness” or self-deprecation. It did not imply selfdeprecation, since it did not diminish Korea people's potential for anti-imperialist resistance or “socialist construction”. Most Soviet people in Im's book appear as “teachers” - that is, in connection with certain valuable skills (from medicine to harmonica playing) Koreans had good reasons to learn. The “parental” features in their descriptions (“parent-like care” of Soviet doctors for Korean patients) are part and parcel of the stereotypical Confucian image of a model “gentleman” - perfectly applicable to Koreans as well. The images of Soviet soldiers as skilled harmonica players and singers also seem to have been influenced by the Confucian belief in aesthetic harmony as an outward expression of inner moral perfection. On the aesthetic sides of Confucian moral ideals, see: Nicholas Gier, “Dancing Ru: a Confucian Aesthetics of Virtue”. Philosophy East and West 51/2 (2001):280-302.
49 Segye ŭi Punno [Anger of the World] (Pyongyang: Kungnip Munhak Yesul Sŏjŏk Ch'ulp'ansa, 1959), 42-44, 153-158.
50 See, for example, a contemporary North Korean poster, in which a picture of the globe half-wrapped in the North Korean flag, is accompanied by the inscription: “The globe revolves around Korea as its axis”. David Heather and Koen De Ceuster eds. North Korean Posters (Munich: Prestel, 2008), 275.
51 On North Koreans “chuchee” foreign policy of the 1960s-early 80s, see: Byung Chul Koh, The Foreign Policy Systems of North and South Korea (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984). On the diplomatic competition between two Koreas, and North Korea's Third World diplomacy of the 1960s-80s, see also: Barry Gills, Korea Versus Korea: A Case of Contested Legitimacy (NY: Routledge, 1996), 50-130.
52 Lee Jin-Kyung, Service Economies: Militarism, Sex Work, and Migrant Labor in South Korea (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2010), 185-213.
53 Recently (for years 2009-2010), annual spending on English education in South Korea was approximately three times higher than in Japan: Park Jin-kyu, “english Fever' in South Korea: its History and Symptoms”, English Today 25 (2009): 50-57.
54 For example, the discourse of self-contained, self-centred “national history” (Jap. kokushi, Kor. kuksa), previously central to South Korean nationalist narratives, became by the late 1990s a target of criticism. Im Chihyŏn and Yi Sŏngsi, eds. Kuksa ŭi sinhwa rŭl nŏmŏsŏ [Beyond the Myth of National History] (Seoul: Humanist, 2004).
55 It is interesting that in the speeches and writings on the issue of a possible “East Asian community” by former South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun (No Muhyŏn, 2003-2008), it is South Korea that emerges as the central driving force of the project, a bridge between China and Japan. See: Pak Myŏngnim, “No Myhyŏn ŭi ‘Tongbug'a kusang’ yŏn'gu” [Research on Roh Moo-hyun's ‘Northeast Asian Projecť]. Yŏksa Pip'yŏng 76 (2006): 148-179. Envisioning South Korea in the centre of “new” Northeast Asia, as its “hub” (a popular expression in the official discourse in Roh Moo- hyun's days), implies a high degree of selfconfidence vis-à-vis South Koreans still much stronger neighbours. The root of this selfconfidence is South Koreans recent selfperception as a hugely successful new industrial power, in combination with the sense of Japan's relative decline.
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