Essay #4: A Reflection on "Minjok"

     I must first say that it is a shame that I have not spent time thinking about the true meaning of minjok prior to this assignment. Even when I was thinking about which high school to apply to, and made the choice KMLA, I never gave a second thought to what the term "Minjok" in Korean "Minjok" Leadership Academy. In fact, many people think they know what minjok is, but when asked, they can only answer in fragmented sentences or a few phrases.

     There is no fixed definition of the term 'minjok'. It includes many different aspects of Korea and a complex history. Not knowing where to start with in my reflection of the concept, I decided to begin from my opinion, since I myself is a member of the Korean society who holds ideas about minjok. When I think of minjok, what first comes into my mind is pride of being Korean, and a unified society under the concept 'minjok'. This is similar to interpreting 'minjok' as a form of nationalism. In fact, the english word nation is often translated as 'minjok' in Korean. A part of the concept minjok does indeed include unifying ourselves with Korean identity.

Nationalism

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines nationalism as "loyalty and devotion to a nation; especially : a sense of national consciousness exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations or supranational groups." Simply put, it is the practice of having pride in one's nation.
Nationalism is often used in situations when provoking or conducing a nation to work as a unified single body. Nations with members of similar bloodlines and cultural origins easily aggregate, whereas multicultural nations face difficulty doing so. One example that illustrates such difference would be how Greece is dealing with the economic crisis of 2010; countries in eastern Europe are composed of people from diverse cultural origins. With little unity and less loyalty for the nation, the citizens are not willing to sacrifice their rights and benefits for the sake of the nation. Consequently, the situation remains unresolved, and Greece is merely asking for bailout to EU.

Sharing the Same Root

Compared to other nations in the world, Koreans have a relatively uniform origin. Historians interpret the first nation of Korea as Gojoseon(고조선), which was formed around BC 2333 by the great leader Dankun. To largely skim the history of Korea from then, after Gojoseon was the period of the three kingdoms, Silla, Baekje and Goguryeo. These three countries were later united as Goryeo and after an internal coup d'etat around AD 1392, the Chosun Dynasty begins. Throughout the roughly 4000 years of Korean history, Koreans never faced a long time occupation of decades by foreign nations which would have allowed an inflow of people from different cultural origins. Rise and fall of nations all occurred within the Korean peninsula. Although there was much trade and interchanging ideas with China, Korea maintained its autonomous culture.
The idea that Koreans share the same 'roots', that they are 'one people' contribute greatly to the cohesiveness of Korean society, and to the concept 'minjok' of shared identity.

Cohesiveness (Working as one)

Korea has faced many crises and difficulties like all other nations do, and we have had advantage in overcoming them from the strong cohesiveness of Korean society under the idea that we are the same 'minjok'. For instance, take a look at the example of the Korean financial crisis of 1998. At the time, the Korean government owed a large debt to IMF(International Monetary Fund). The debt was so great that it had severe impact on the Korean economy as a whole, which even degraded the Korean financial credibility. To overcome the crisis, not only firms and the government went through extensive financial restructuring and revision of their policies, but there were great individual efforts to pay for the debts. The most prominent example includes the 'gold collection movement', where individuals donated their private gold to provide funds to the government. Furthermore, there was a consumer movement to purchase Korean firm- produced consumer goods rather than imported goods. 

Distinctions between nations

Nationalism creates divisions between different nations. This border prevails especially during times of foreign invasion. Political and military leaders idolize the concept 'nation', 'country' in times of war to unite the people into one, for easy collective action. Not only 'nation' but they emphasize 'MY nation', attempting to create a sense of loyalty and devotion to one's nation and hostility towards the enemy. Perhaps not hostility towards other nations, but nationalism does emphasize the egoistic benefit of one's own nation, therefore seducing an individual to act against the benefit of other nations. Congruently, such feelings create the distinctions between nations. The idea 'minjok' distinguishes us Koreans from Japanese, Chinese, or Americans.

However, minjok implies something more complex than nationalism. Nationalism itself is a complex concept, indeed, but the term 'minjok' cannot be substituted with the word 'Korean nationalism' since the term itself has a special background.

Historical background

 Before the annexation of Korea by the Japanese, the concept was not was
widely and clearly perceived in people's minds. However, as the Japanese attempted to create the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, they forced ideas that Asia united under Japan would free them from western and American powers. They continued propaganda efforts for all nations involved in it to surrender their sovereignty to Japan. Especially to Korea, they banned practice of anything that of Korean identity, such as the production of the Korean flag or the use of Korean language. Concerned about losing the Korean identity and losing sovereignty to the Japanese, many movements began to restore our traditions and to reinforce our national identity.

Ideas of Shin Chae-Ho

Shin Chae-Ho is an influential historian during the Japanese colonial times. He was the first person to use the concept 'minjok' to reinforce ethnicity of Korea. He emphasized the relation of minjok to the existence of a nation. He highly valued legitimacy derived from the 4000 years of Korean history, and set Korea as a separate sovereign nation from China and Japan. In order to do so, he dug into Korean historical records and found many exemplary figures and glorified them. Such examples include legendary war hero stories of Yi Sun-shin, who defeated 333 Japanese ships with merely 13 ships at the Battle of Myeongnyang by using geographical advantages and wise tactics, and Euljimunduk, a general from Goguryeo who lead a great victory against the million soldiers from China. Surprisingly, the term 'minjok' as it is being used today has not been used for so long.

Use by Park Junghee Administration

Park Jung-hee administration during the 1960s used the slogan "My lifetime for the nation and the minjok" to justify his harsh and despotic rule. He reinforced ideas of nationalism and especially minjok, to push people to work harder for his 5-year Economy Development Plan. Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world back then, suffering from the post-war traumas of the Korean Conflict. To reach the amount of production aimed at ridiculously low costs for price competitiveness in exports, people worked inhumane conditions. However, this was possible because he could justify every injustice he forced upon people as their sacrifice for the minjok and reviving the nation as a whole. If it not had been for Park's despotic economic policy, Korea would not have been able to reach such economic development within only ten years, thus many people still praise him for his economic achievements. Nevertheless, his critics argue that imposing strong concept of minjok and nationalism blinded people from recognizing democratic values thus should not be praised.

Hostility towards Japan

Due to the lasting effect of the Japanese annexation of Korea, which ended merely 60 years ago, many Koreans still have animosities towards Japan. A typical example illustrating this are  the reactions to soccer match between Japan and Korea. Many social networking sites are covered with foul emotional descriptions of Japan without proper reasoning, often basing their arguments on the wrongs committed during the colonial period. Koreans feel much victimized by the Japanese and therefore are very hostile towards them. Koreans' overreactions towards Japan regarding Dokdo are another examples that show negative feelings towards Japan. Koreans regard their minjok as better, more developed, rational than Japanese due to these feelings. When treating Japanese, Koreans often bring up 'minjok' and show cohesion against the Japanese.

As seen above, aside from nationalistic qualities, 'minjok' also implies special meanings and history; modern minjok implies some aversion towards Japan, also abuse history to justify dictatorship, and the fact that it was not naturally generated by history but as if brought up by a single man.

Problems and Future for Minjok

Unification of the two Koreas

The separation of North and South Korea occurred during the Korean conflict, which was merely 60 years ago. Both people of Koreas are descendants of Dangun, and thus share the bloodline. We do share the same roots. Technically, we can call ourselves a 'minjok'. However, nationality is much involved in the concept 'minjok' and political ideology along with it. The North and South Koreas each have a communist and capitalistic or democratic political ideal. Whereas many people argued for the reunification of Korea because they are the same minjok, this argument has lost much support as reunification is prolonged and the divided state lasts and the paradigm of thinking becomes completely different due to the opposite political ideals imposed on them.

Segyehwa (Globalization)

Since the Olympics were held in Seoul in 1988, Korea started to face great inflow of ideas and cultures of the world, along with attention. Starting from the 1980s, English grew in importance as global competitiveness in Korea. Great cultural influx resulted in rapid changes in Korean society, in all aspects including fashion, gourmet and lifestyles. Such rapid influx is ruining the 'minjok' concept in some ways. Bewildered by new western ideas  surrounding them and the pressure to follow globalization, they are often adopting them without considering ways to protect 'minjok'. Instead of incorporating the good aspects of other cultures, without hesitation, many cultures are adopted into everyday life. 'Minjok' is valued less these days and western ideals are valued higher for many people.
However, some are too conservative about 'minjok'. Too much pride in Korean culture and the traditional 'minjok' has resulted in some to repel even the good aspects of western culture and preserving 'minjok'. However, as the global trend changes, the concept 'minjok' must develop with it; trapped water could rot. Some exchange of ideas are needed to mend 'minjok' but not entirely. We must find the right medium between adopting changes and keeping the most fundamental values of minjok.