“We are one minjok.” That is the most common thought among Koreans when it comes to “Koreans”. Then, what does minjok mean in this sentence? That first statement is not a fact. Minjok in this sentence means a group of people who share the same history and culture. However, Korea is becoming a multicultural society which means that foreigners who are one hundred percent different from Koreans are coming to Korea which makes the first sentence a false statement.
Then, where did this
“minjok” come from? In order to know this, there should be a deep understanding
of the Korean history. Straightly and concisely speaking, the concept Minjok
started from the colonial period. During WWII, Japan enlarged its territory
throughout Asia by using ultranationalism, making people around Asia to believe
that the root between them and the Japanese are same. Also, in Korea, Japan
made Koreans to believe in nationalism through imposing Koreans to change their
names into Japanese and use Japanese instead of Korean. However, of course,
Korean intellectuals like Shin Chae-ho and Yi Kwang-su did not want Japan to
take over Korea. To do their jobs of sending away the Japanese, they needed unity
among Koreans. In order to gather Korean to one, there should be a belief that
they were one from the start. That’s why shin Chae-ho wrote “Joseon Sanggosa”.
According to this book, Koreans are all descendants of Dangun which is an
empire that first started in Korea. The book talks about the era of Dangun
through the fall of Balhae and depicts Korean as a warlike race which have
fought to preserve the “Korean” identity. So the tale of Dangun seemed like
concrete evidence that could make Korean to one and it really worked. Koreans
gathered together and fought for independence and to save their unique national
heritage of Dangun. Since the colonial period and even after the independence,
Koreans believed in Dangun and really regard all Koreans as the descendants of
Dangun.
The idea of
nationalism in Korea and Japan originated from Europe called the romanticnationalism. Romantic nationalism has a deep relationship with details such as
language, culture and religion instead of physical appearances. So there are
folklores like Dangun in Korea that seem like the evidence for the grouping.
This is when Brothers Grimm became quite popular because the stories of
Brothers Grimm are very easy to understand but quite deep when looked in the
perspective of “nationalism”. Due to the Romantic Nationalism, France could be
able to succeed in French Revolution. Korea’s concept of minjok is very alike
to the meaning of Romantic Nationalism. Like mentioned before, in order to
support or to prove nationalism and minjok, there are folklores. Also, the
language, which was another support of Romantic Nationalism, was used when the
concept of minjok was made because Korean language is only used among Korean
which differentiates from others and again prove the term Minjok.
Not only Korea had this concept Minjok that held a group of people together. Japan and Germany also had this idea. Especially, in Germany, during WWII, there was a huge wave of Nazism which gathered German in to one. So due to Nazism, German believed that they are superior than any other group of people which can be seen as the term Minjok. However, the ending of Nazism was very bad. Due to Nazism, almost ten million innocent people were sacrificed because they were just “different” from German. So Germany does not like the concept of nationalism because they realized that the end to nationalism is not good. Also, like Germany, Japan prevailed ultranationalism among Asia to make other countries believe that they are one. However, Japan lost in the war which made them learn that the end to nationalism is bad. So the end to nationalism for Germany and Japan were very bad. On the contrary, Korea kind of benefited from nationalism or the spirit of minjok because that was the source of their power during the colonial period. Still now, nationalism can affect the society. For example, one of the reason why North Korea and South Korea need to unite is because they are one minjok. So to Korea, the concept of Minjok gave impetus to national pride and the reason to make two Koreas united.
fall of Nazi& how they brought nationalism
Although through the term Minjok, two Koreas could unify, looking at the big picture, having the concept of minjok does not seem like a good idea. The reason why the though of minjok worked during the colonial period is because it was true. There were only Korean who shared the same culture and language. However, nowadays, there are foreigners on the land of Korea trying to fit in the society full of same people. In other words, it was okay to be proud of being “one minjok” but temporarily, Korea is becoming a multicultural society which makes the term false. If Korean keep holding to the fact that they are one minjok, there will be no huge improvements in Korean society. By having the thought that they are one minjok, they could gather easily like during the world cup season 2002 when Koreans were called the “Red Devils”. That worked in the old days. However, now, only insisting one culture cannot work. Due to globalization, products that are invented from one country are exported to other countries. Therefore, to succeed in this era, there should be an understanding of other cultures. That is why minjok can negatively affect the Korean society. If Korean keep pursuing the concept of minjok, they won’t be able to see other cultures which can cause problems between other countries and Korea.
