Forging the Identity of the Korean Peninsula

In our household, Cho family dinners often end with everyone sitting around the dinner table, our attention trained on my grandparents, Sungja and Seong-Koo, as they share bits and pieces of their life back in South Korea before they moved to the United States. Together, they told us stories of their lives: how they met in grade school, attending university together, being part of the the Korean Air Force, making the decision to move to the United States before my mom was born, and the struggle to establish their new lives in their Midwestern home. Last summer while sitting on the floor looking up at my grandparents, I felt the sudden urge to capture everything– I didn’t want to let the stories disappear as soon as their words faded into the next.

My interest in family history collided with the Korean history I learned about in my Block 1 course, "Authoritarianism", with Professor Sofia Fenner. The class spent a few days reading and discussing the totalitarian government in North Korea and for my final project I focused on Park Chung-hee's authoritarian regime in South Korea in the 1970s. Throughout that block and the remainder of the semester, I familiarized myself with the modern historical timeline of the Korean peninsula, including the Japanese colonial rule, the results of World War II and the division between North and South Korea with Soviet and US occupation, the Korean War that followed soon after, the period of authoritarian rule, and the eventual democratization of South Korea. During my time in South Korea in January, my goal was to use my family history as a guide to explore these time periods and the deep complexities of the ever-changing identity of the Korean peninsula.

Here are some of the places I visited:

JOSEON DYNASTY (1392-1910)

This is the Changgyeonggung Palace, one of the many physical reminders of the Joseon Dynasty scattered throughout Seoul, South Korea's capital city. It's pretty amazing to walk through the city and see modern skyscrapers and 800 year old palaces within blocks of each other... a very tangible mark of the recent modernization Korea underwent, with careful preservation of its grand yet tumultuous past.

Built in the mid-15th century by King Sejong, Changgyeonggung Palace is beautifully maintained and its sprawling estate is a significant landmark of the northern part of the city. The Joseon Dynasty was in power from 1392 until 1910 when Japan invaded the peninsula. Although this was the Korean ruling family, Chinese influences ran deep. In the royal family and the members of the upper class, Chinese was the spoken and written language. The National Palace Museum of Korea featured Chinese workbooks that the royal children would use in school. In 1443 King Sejong created Hangeul, the Korean phonetic alphabet, however Chinese was the language for elites. This theme of Hangeul being pushed to the side is seen throughout Korea's history and symbolizes a struggle to establish a truly Korean national identity.

JAPANESE COLONIAL RULE (1910-1945)

In 1910, the Empire of Japan annexed the Korean peninsula and was effectively in control of it until the end of World War II. During these thirty-five years, Japan forced not only their language and culture onto Korea's citizens, but also the erasure of much of Korea's historical documents and traditions. In schools and universities, the Korean language was banned so many people were forced to learn Japanese and give up their native language. Once again, this was another instance of Korea's identity being forged by external influences without much internal choice in the matter.

In 1908, Japanese colonists opened the Seodaemun prison as a response to Korean independence activists advocating for Japan's removal. Only a few minutes outside the bustling city, Seodaemun's brutally austere brick buildings form a panopticon. A collectively somber tone filled the air as the visitors quietly walked around.

It was especially important to me that I get a chance to visit this historical site in Seoul. My great-grandfather was a member of a Korean independence group and was imprisoned at Seodaemun by the Japanese imperialist government. He was in his 20s and my grandfather was a young child. My great-grandfather contracted Tuberculosis in the prison. He was sick and dying when Korea gained independence in 1945 and was carried through the streets by his friends to celebrate the cause they had been fighting for. He died not too long after that celebration.

THE SPLIT: A TALE OF TWO KOREAS

At the end of World War II and with the defeat of the Japanese, Korea finally gained its independence. But not for long. In August of 1945, the Soviet Union and the United States divided Korea along the 38th parallel, effectively creating and controlling North Korea and South Korea, respectively. Both North and South Korea had UN monitored elections, leading to the appointment of Kim Il-sung in the north and Syngman Rhee in the south.

The Korean War began in 1950 when communist North Korea, backed by the Soviet Union and China, invaded South Korea in an attempt to reunify the peninsula. During the three years of fighting, Seoul was captured by communist forces four times. Busan was one of two cities to not be captured by the North Korean army. Because it's one of the southernmost cities in South Korea, it was situated far away from most of the dangerous conflict, making Busan a safe haven. Many Korean families were forced to uproot their lives and temporarily migrate to Busan for the duration of the war; my grandmother's family was one of them.

The conflict between the two Koreas has never officially ended. There was never a peace treaty (and still hasn't been), but in 1953 the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed which created the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), a 2.5 mile wide 'neutral' zone between North and South Korea. While still very much in place and very heavily guarded, the DMZ is part of the tourist infrastructure today. There's an amusement park, restaurants, a gondola, and gift shops that you can visit while on guided tours of the DMZ. I felt conflicted on my tour. I ate a hot dog while looking through binoculars at North Korea in the not-so-faraway distance? I could've purchased a hot pink bedazzled "DMZ" baseball hat? (I didn't, I swear.) I paid $20 to ride the gondola across the Namjin river (where defectors used to escape) and over the mine-ridden land, but could've paid $30 for a glass-bottomed cab? The commercialization of an area with such a tragic history was off-putting. Various banners strung up around the site called for reunification of the two Koreas, but I wonder how many Korean citizens are truly in support of that.

The Reforging (1953- present)

Since the end of the Korean War, South Korea went through a period of authoritarian rule under the guise of elections and presidencies until the democratization of the country in 1987. The early '80s were the start of a massive economic boom that brought about rapid modernization. South Korea's economy is now the tenth largest in the world, thus establishing the country as a major player on the global stage. Known for academically rigorous schools and students, K-pop and K-dramas, and for being a technological hub and the birthplace of Samsung, South Korea is in the midst of rebuilding and reforging its own national identity. The remnants of Chinese and Japanese colonial influence scattered throughout Seoul (and the lingering US military influence) seem to serve as a painful yet motivating reminder of the autonomy stolen from the Korean peninsula, but the success of the new city is an impressive mark of what has been built and what is yet to come.

I was fortunate enough to spend a few days throughout my trip exploring with different family members who live in Seoul. It's truly an incredible place...beautiful, organized, busy, full of mouth-watering restaurants, museums, and parks. I'll be spending the summer and fall months in South Korea, studying abroad at Yonsei University. I'm looking forward to continue my exploration of Korean history and experience first-hand the changes the country is constantly embarking on.

–Britt

A few more snippets from the trip: