Reflection on the Concept of Minjok

(Nazi was most proud of this poster among the numerous posters they have made)

Reflection on the Concept of Minjok

10b1

121132 Jo Hyung Woo

(Obama's acceptance speech)

     While minjok is often defined as "a community of people who have inhabited in same place sharing the same culture for long history", in fact this concept has become famous recently, during the Japanese colonial period. During the Japanese colonial period, Japan endeavored to destroy Korean culture by blurring Korean identity and enfeebling bonds between Koreans. Korean intellectuals who recognized Japan's intention have popularized the concept of minjok by giving a sense of similarity to Koreans so that the nation could be efficiently organized to stand against Japan. Furthermore, research has shown that the best way to organize the community was giving strong pride to the community's common ground. An epitome would be Hitler's usage of the concept "superior race" which not only evoked pride but also rapidly stabilized a defeated nation. It enabled HItler to form a strong army with a strong war spirit. Another adequate example would be Park Jung Hee's use of concept of minjok. He led noticeable economic development by encouraging people to work hard, claiming that the outstanding Korean minjok can achieve rapid development. Most of the politicians, recently, also started using such methods to persuade citizens. One of the most famous events related to this was the president election between Michael Dukakis and George H.W. Bush in 1998. Michael Dukakis was overwhelmingly leading George Bush, however, Bush succeeded in upsetting the election by using nationalistic symbols like the national anthem and the Star Spangled-Banner. Such national symbols played significant role in winning the election by defeating reason and activating emotion of voters.

(EBS Documentary prime "King Maker" edited by me)

(Part of Drama "The Newsroom")

     As previous examples show, the concept of minjok, or one nation has been mainly used as a tool to unite the dispersed crowds. In other words, the feeling of pride that Koreans felt was actually intended to effectively systematize a huge community. The concept of minjok is now actually becoming ambiguous as the society is being globalized. There are a lot of blood-mixed children in Korea, and the numbers are consistently increasing. There are no such concepts of race and pure-blood in our society. For instance one can be partially Korean, partially Japanese, partially Canadian. Nowadays, Koreans are
being proud of single-race nation, Korea. This pride sometimes leads us to unconditionally believe in race supremacy. There are such words like, 짠깨, 외놈, 양키, which insults Chinese, Japanese, American respectively. Such words show that we feel superior compared to other nation. Every citizen like to hear either their race or country is the best in the world. It gives them pride and sense of belonging. However, as the society is gradually turning into what we call a "melting pot", the concept of pure race or blood is disappearing. Pure race or blood is only a concept to persuade a crowd by appealing emotionally. In addition, the word "best" implies that one is superior compared to other competing concepts. There might be the best nation or race but it will always change following to the criteria, whether it is illiteracy rate or national defense expenditure. Thus, there is no such thing as an absolutely best nation or race.



      It is evident that the community needs a tool to keep the components united. However, the tool should be natural, not artificial. Since artificial tools can cause cultural or ethical exclusivism due to feeling of superiority, we should assemble people by appealing to such constructive emotions like patriotism which comes from respect to the community. Thus, we should have pride to the community that we are belonged but this pride should not go further to the extent that it becomes ultra-nationalism.
     We were unconditionally accepting the concept of minjok uncritically since it gave us pride and honor. However, we should think critically about the concept that may seem to benefit us. We should always be critical about the conception we encounter during our lives and we should never discriminate a person or a specific group by their "innate" characteristics. While writing this essay, I learned that I had to broaden my perspective by thinking creatively and questioning concepts which I believed to be an absolute answer.


In short, Koreans should be proud of the fact that they are a Korean but they should avoid nationalism. Examining the history of Korea, the concept of minjok has enabled us to effectively fight against Japanese colonial rule and accomplish unbelievable economic development. Therefore, most of the people think about the concept minjok positively. Nevertheless, the concept minjok is diminishing as the society is diversifying and now the term minjok is used politically to persuade people, for example, the Democratic Party(Korea)'s objection against FTA(Free Trade Agreement) with U.S.A. As the concept of minjok turns ambiguous, the best way to unite the community will be simple respect to other groups sprouting from the bottom of the heart.




Embedded Links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7r3qeo3pF4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC8ovJYAU3U
http://www.nazism.net/about/ideological_theory/
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xuu1mc_ebs-yyyyy-yyyy-1y-yyyy-yy_news?search_algo=2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationalism
http://www.nationalismproject.org/what.htm
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ultranationalism
http://www.nationsworld.kr
http://www.banmin.or.kr/kimson/home/minjok/index.php
http://blog.daum.net/qlcrhdmf2/222
http://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EA%B5%AD%EC%88%98%EC%A3%BC%EC%9D%98
http://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EB%AF%BC%EC%A1%B1%EC%A3%BC%EC%9D%98
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCEAYnGMBKU
http://blog.daum.net/dandakhan/16566014
http://cimio.net/401
http://www.pressian.com/article/article.asp?article_num=40081128122039&Section=04
http://uncyclopedia.kr/wiki/%EB%AF%BC%EC%A1%B1%EC%A3%BC%EC%9D%98
http://mybox.happycampus.com/c00lguy/153079
http://preview.britannica.co.kr/bol/topic.asp?article_id=b02g2609a
http://myvh.tistory.com/entry/%EA%B5%AD%EC%88%98%EC%A3%BC%EC%9D%98%EC%97%90-%EB%B9%A0%EC%A0%B8%EB%B2%84%EB%A6%B0-IT%ED%8A%B9%ED%97%88-%EB%B6%84%EC%9F%81