Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T06:29:43.016Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An Old Right in New Bottles: State without Nation in South Korean New Right Historiography

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2021

Sungik Yang Open the ORCID record for Sungik Yang [Opens in a new window]
Sungik Yang*
Affiliation:
Sungik Yang (sungikyang@g.harvard.edu) is a PhD Candidate in History and East Asian Languages in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University.
Get access

Abstract

The New Right movement that arose in the early 2000s in South Korea was a response to a change in ownership of Korean nationalist discourse during the preceding decades. Although nationalism was the preserve of the South Korean right wing from the trusteeship crisis in 1945 through the end of the Park Chung Hee regime, a historiographical revolt in the 1980s that emphasized the historical illegitimacy of the South Korean state allowed the Left to appropriate nationalism. With the loss of nationalism from its arsenal, the Right turned to postnationalist neoliberal discourse to blunt the effectiveness of leftist nationalist rhetoric. An examination of New Right historiography on the colonial and postliberation periods, however, shows that despite the recent change in conservatives’ stance on nationalism, a preoccupation with the legitimacy of the South Korean state remains at the center of right-wing historical narratives. The New Right represents old wine in new bottles.

Keywords

conservatismKoreaKorean historiographyKorean nationalismNew Rightright wingSouth KoreaSouth Korean politicsstatism
Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 80 , Issue 4 , November 2021 , pp. 889 - 909
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

List of References

An, Ho-sang. 1950. Ilminjuŭi ŭi pon pat'ang [The essence of the One People Principle]. Seoul: Ilminjuŭi Yŏn'guwŏn.Google Scholar
An, Hyŏn-hyo. 2010. “‘Haebang chŏnhusa ŭi chaeinsik’ e taehan chinghujŏk tokhae” [A symptomatic reading of Haebang chŏnhusa ŭi chaeinsik]. Kyŏngje wa sahoe 86:199–232.Google Scholar
An, Pyŏng-jik. 2007. Taehan Min'guk, yŏksa ŭi kiro e sŏda: An Pyŏng-jik, Yi Yŏng-hun taedam [The Republic of Korea is standing at a crossroads of history: A conversation between An Pyŏng-jik and Yi Yŏng-hun]. Seoul: Kip'arang.Google Scholar
Bobbio, Norberto. 1996. Left and Right: The Significance of a Political Distinction. Translated by Cameron, Allan. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Campbell, Emma. 2016. South Korea's New Nationalism: The End of “One Korea”? Boulder, Colo.: FirstForumPress.Google Scholar
Chang, Yun-sŏn. 2008. “‘Nyu rait’ŭ nŭn chugŏtta, chongŏn sŏnŏn haeya’ posu chisigin Kim Il-yŏng kyosu chujang…chajungjiran?” [“The New Right is dead, we must announce its end,” argues conservative intellectual Professor Kim Il-yŏng . . . internal strife?]. OhmyNews, November 27. http://www.ohmynews.com/NWS_Web/View/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_CD=A0001020462 (accessed November 27, 2016).Google Scholar
Cho, Kwan-ja. 2006. “‘Minjok ŭi him’ ŭl yongmanghan ‘ch'inil naesyŏnŏllisŭt’ŭ’ Yi Kwang-su” [The “pro-Japanese nationalist” Yi Kwang-su, who desired the “power of the nation.”]. In Haebang chŏnhusa ŭi chaeinsik [A reinterpretation of history before and after liberation], vol. 1, edited by Chi-hyang, Pak, Ch’ŏl, Kim, Il-yŏng, Kim, and Yŏng-hun, Yi, 524–55. Seoul: Ch'aek Sesang.Google Scholar
Ch'oe, Ho-yŏl. 2008. “Chaman, kwayok, hondon ‘sin kwŏllyŏk’ Nyu rait’ŭ” [Vanity, greed, and chaos of the “New Power,” the New Right]. Sin tonga, September 4. https://shindonga.donga.com/3/all/13/107807/1 (accessed November 30, 2020).Google Scholar
Chŏn, Chae-ho. 2000. Pandongjŏk kŭndaejuŭija Pak Chŏng-hŭi [Reactionary modernist Park Chung Hee]. Seoul: Chaek Sesang.Google Scholar
Chu, Ik-chong. 2006. “Singminji sigi ŭi saenghwal sujun” [The standard of living during the colonial era]. In Haebang chŏnhusa ŭi chaeinsik, vol. 1, edited by Chi-hyang, Pak, Ch’ŏl, Kim, Il-yŏng, Kim, and Yŏng-hun, Yi, 107–44. Seoul: Ch'aek Sesang.Google Scholar
Cumings, Bruce. 1981. The Origins of the Korean War. Vol. 1, Liberation and the Emergence of Separate Regimes, 1945–1947. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
De Ceuster, Koen. 2001. “The Nation Exorcised: The Historiography of Collaboration in South Korea.” Korean Studies 25 (2): 207–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Ceuster, Koen. 2010. “When History Is Made: History, Memory and the Politics of Remembrance in Contemporary Korea.” Korean Histories 2 (1): 13–33.Google Scholar
Em, Henry. 1993. “‘Overcoming’ Korea's Division: Narrative Strategies in Recent South Korean Historiography.” positions: east asia critique 1 (2): 450–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Em, Henry. 2013. The Great Enterprise: Sovereignty and Historiography in Modern Korea. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Ha, Chong-mun. 2007. “Panil minjokchuŭi wa Nyu Rai'tŭ” [Anti-Japanese nationalism and the New Right]. Yŏksa pip'yŏng 78:175–97.Google Scholar
Harvey, David. 2005. A Brief History of Neoliberalism. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herŏldŭ kyŏngje. 2019. “‘Panil chongjokchuŭi’ besŭt’ŭsellŏ 1 wi . . . 5060 namsŏng i chŏlban” [Anti-Japanese Tribalism tops best-seller lists . . . half of customers are men in their fifties and sixties]. August 16. http://biz.heraldcorp.com/view.php?ud=20190816000049 (accessed November 9, 2020).Google Scholar
Im, Chong-myŏng. 2006. “Yŏ-Sun ‘Pallan’ ŭi chaehyŏn ŭl t'onghan Taehan Min'guk ŭi hyŏngsanghwa” [Configuring the Republic of Korea through the representation of the Yŏ-Sun “Rebellion”]. In Kŭndae rŭl tasi ingnŭnda: Han'guk kŭndae insik ŭi saeroun p'aerŏdaim ŭl wihayŏ [Rereading modernity: For the sake of a new paradigm in understanding Korean modernity], vol. 1, edited by Hae-dong, Yun, Chŏng-hwan, Ch’ŏn, Su, Hŏ, Pyŏng-ju, Hwang, Yong-gi, Yi, and Tae-sŏk, Yun, 277–313. Seoul: Yŏksa Pip'yŏngsa.Google Scholar
Kang, chŏng-In, Su-ja, Kim, Chi-yŏng, Mun, Sŭng-hyŏn, Chŏng, and Ha, Sang-bok. 2009. Han'guk chŏngch'i ŭi inyŏm kwa sasang: Posujuŭi, chayujuŭi, minjokchuŭi, kŭpchinjuŭi [The ideologies and thought of Korean politics: Conservatism, liberalism, nationalism, radicalism]. Seoul: Humanit'asŭ.Google Scholar
Kang, Man-gil. 2015. “Haebang chŏnhusa insik ŭi panghyang” [The direction of the understanding of history before and after liberation]. In Haebang chŏnhusa ŭi insik [An understanding of history before and after liberation], 3rd ed., vol. 2, edited by Man-gil, Kang et al. , 15–21. P'aju: Han'gilsa.Google Scholar
Kim, Charles R. 2017. Youth for Nation: Culture and Protest in Cold War South Korea. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.Google Scholar
Kim, Il-yŏng. 2006a. “Chŏnsi chŏngch'i ŭi chaejomyŏng: Pusan chŏngch'i p'adong ŭi tach'awŏnsŏng e taehan pokhapchŏk ihae” [A reexamination of wartime politics: A comprehensive understanding of the multidimensionality of the Pusan Political Crisis]. In Haebang chŏnhusa ŭi chaeinsik, vol. 2, edited by Chi-hyang, Pak, Ch’ŏl, Kim, Il-yŏng, Kim, and Yŏng-hun, Yi, 215–57. Seoul: Ch'aek Sesang, 2006.Google Scholar
Kim, Il-yŏng. 2006b. “Nongji kaehyŏk ŭl tullŏssan sinhwa ŭi haech'e” [Dismantling the myths surrounding land reform]. In Haebang chŏnhusa ŭi chaeinsik, vol. 2, edited by Chi-hyang, Pak, Ch’ŏl, Kim, Il-yŏng, Kim, and Yŏng-hun, Yi, 295–344. Seoul: Ch'aek Sesang.Google Scholar
Kim, J. James, and Chungku, Kang. 2019. “South Korean Attitudes about ROK-Japan Relations on the Rocks.” Issue Brief, Asan Institute for Policy Studies, October 14. http://en.asaninst.org/contents/south-korean-attitudes-about-rok-japan-relations-on-the-rocks/ (accessed November 19, 2020).Google Scholar
Kim, Nang-nyŏn. 2006. “Singminji sigi ŭi kongŏphwa chaeron” [A review of colonial-era industrialization]. In Haebang chŏnhusa ŭi chaeinsik, vol. 1, edited by Chi-hyang, Pak, Ch’ŏl, Kim, Il-yŏng, Kim, and Yŏng-hun, Yi, 188–228. Seoul: Ch'aek Sesang.Google Scholar
Kim, Su-ja. 2008. “Haebang ihu uik minjok tamnon ŭi konggohwa kwajŏng (1945–1953): ilganji rŭl chungsim ŭro” [The consolidation process of postliberation right-wing nationalist discourse (1945–1953): Focusing on daily newspapers]. Yŏksa hakpo 198:89–114.Google Scholar
Kim, Yŏng-ho, ed. 2008a. Taehan Min'guk kŏn'guk 60 nyŏn ŭi chaeinsik [A reinterpretation of the 60 years since the establishment of the Republic of Korea]. Seoul: Kip'arang.Google Scholar
Kim, Yŏng-ho. 2008b. “Kŏn'guk sagwan kwa pundan sagwan” [The country establishment historical view and the division historical view]. In Taehan Min'guk kŏn'guk 60 nyŏn ŭi chaeinsik, edited by Yŏng-ho, Kim, 75–100. Seoul: Kip'arang.Google Scholar
Kukpangbu [Republic of Korea Ministry of National Defense]. 1979. Kukkun chŏngsin chŏllyok kyobon [Textbook for the spiritual combat power of the ROK Armed Forces]. Vol. 1. Seoul: Kukpangbu Chŏnghun'guk.Google Scholar
Kukpangbu Chŏnghun'guk [Republic of Korea Ministry of National Defense, Troop Information and Education Division]. 1979. Chuje palp'yo charyojip [Sourcebook on thematic presentations]. Seoul: Kukpangbu Chŏnghun'guk.Google Scholar
Lee, Namhee. 2007. The Making of Minjung: Democracy and the Politics of Representation in South Korea. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Lee, Namhee. 2019. “Social Memories of the 1980s: Unpacking the Regime of Discontinuity.” In Revisiting Minjung: New Perspectives on the Cultural History of 1980s South Korea, edited by Park, Sunyoung, 17–45. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Miller, Owen. 2010. “The Idea of Stagnation in Korean Historiography.” Korean Histories 2 (1): 3–12.Google Scholar
Nakano, Koichi. 2016. “Contemporary Political Dynamics of Japanese Nationalism.” Asia-Pacific Journal 14 (issue 20, no. 6). https://apjjf.org/2016/20/Nakano.html.Google Scholar
No, Chae-bong. 2008. “Taehan Min'guk kŏn'guk ŭi segyesajŏk ŭiŭi” [The global historical significance of the establishment of the Republic of Korea]. In Taehan Min'guk kŏn'guk 60 nyŏn ŭi chaeinsik, edited by Yŏng-ho, Kim, 11–38. Seoul: Kip'arang.Google Scholar
Pak, Ch'an-sŭng. 2002. “20 segi Han'guk kukkajuŭi ŭi kiwŏn” [The origins of 20th century Korean statism]. Han'guksa yŏn'gu 117:199–246.Google Scholar
Pak, Ch'an-sŭng. 2008. “Yi Sŏn-gŭn ŭi Han'guksa yŏn'gu wa yŏksagwan” [Yi Sŏn-gŭn's research on Korean history and his historical views]. In Kŭndae kyoryusa wa sangho insik, vol. 3, 1945 nyŏn chŏnhu [The history of modern exchanges and mutual understanding, vol. 3, Before and after 1945], edited by Yong-dŏk, Kim and Hiroshi, Miyajima, 193–242. Seoul: Ayŏn Ch'ulp’anbu.Google Scholar
Pak, Chi-hyang. 2006a. “‘Haebang chŏnhusa ŭi chaeinsik’ e taehan sohoe” [Impressions on Haebang chŏnhusa ŭi chaeinsik]. Sin tonga, September 4. http://shindonga.donga.com/3/all/13/105230/.Google Scholar
Pak, Chi-hyang. 2006b. “Mŏrimal” [Preface]. In Haebang chŏnhusa ŭi chaeinsik, vol. 1, edited by Chi-hyang, Pak, Ch’ŏl, Kim, Il-yŏng, Kim, and Yŏng-hun, Yi, 11–21. Seoul: Ch'aek Sesang.Google Scholar
Pak, Chi-hyang, Ch’ŏl, Kim, Il-yŏng, Kim, and Yŏng-hun, Yi. 2006a. “Taedam” [Conversation]. In Haebang chŏnhusa ŭi chaeinsik, vol. 2, edited by Chi-hyang, Pak, Ch’ŏl, Kim, Il-yŏng, Kim, and Yŏng-hun, Yi, 611–84. Seoul: Ch'aek Sesang.Google Scholar
Pak, Chi-hyang, Ch’ŏl, Kim, Il-yŏng, Kim, and Yŏng-hun, Yi, eds. 2006b. Haebang chŏnhusa ŭi chaeinsik. Vol. 1. Seoul: Ch'aek Sesang.Google Scholar
Pak, Chi-hyang, Ch’ŏl, Kim, Il-yŏng, Kim, and Yŏng-hun, Yi, eds. 2006c. Haebang chŏnhusa ŭi chaeinsik. Vol. 2. Seoul: Ch'aek Sesang.Google Scholar
Pak, Kwang-su. 2019. “‘Panil chongjokchuŭi’ posu to pip'an . . . Hong Chun-p'yo ‘pisangsikchŏk’ Chang Che-wŏn ‘tut'ong yubal’” [Conservatives also criticize Anti-Japanese Tribalism . . . Hong Chun-p'yo: “Absurd”; Chang Che-wŏn: “Causes headaches”]. Chungang ilbo, August 12. https://news.joins.com/article/23550151 (accessed November 9, 2020).Google Scholar
Park, Mi. 2005. “Organizing Dissent Against Authoritarianism: The South Korean Student Movement in the 1980s.” Korea Journal 45 (3): 261–89.Google Scholar
Ra, Jong Yil. 1992. “Political Crisis in Korea, 1952: The Administration, Legislature, Military and Foreign Powers.” Journal of Contemporary History 27 (2): 301–18.Google Scholar
Saaler, Sven. 2016. “Nationalism and History in Contemporary Japan.” Asia-Pacific Journal 14 (issue 20, no. 7). https://apjjf.org/2016/20/Saaler.html.Google Scholar
Shin, Gi-wook. 1995. “Marxism, Anti-Americanism, and Democracy in South Korea: An Examination of Nationalist Intellectual Discourse.” positions: east asia critique 3 (2): 508–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shin, Gi-wook. 2006. Ethnic Nationalism in Korea: Genealogy, Politics, and Legacy. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Slobodian, Quinn. 2018. Globalists: The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Son, Su-bŏm. 2009. “Yi Sŏn-gŭn ŭi ‘Han minjok ŭi kungnan kŭkpoksa’ wa kuksa kyogwasŏ” [Yi Sŏn-gŭn's “The Korean Nation's History of Overcoming National Crises” and national history textbooks]. Yŏksa wa yŏksa kyoyuk 19:87–126.Google Scholar
Song, Kŏn-ho. 2015. “Haebang ŭi minjoksajŏk insik” [A national historical understanding of liberation]. In Haebang chŏnhusa ŭi insik, 3rd ed., vol. 1, edited by Kŏn-ho, Song, et al. , 19–44. P'aju: Han'gilsa.Google Scholar
Stahl, Jason. 2016. Right Moves: The Conservative Think Tank in American Political Culture since 1945. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tikhonov, Vladimir. 2019. “The Rise and Fall of the New Right Movement and the Historical Wars in 2000s South Korea.” European Journal of Korean Studies 18 (2): 5–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vierthaler, Patrick. 2018. “How to Place August 15 in South Korean History? The New Right, the ‘1948 Foundation’ Historical View, and the 2008 Kŏn'gukchŏl Dispute.” Vienna Journal of East Asian Studies 10:137–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yi, Chu-yŏng. 2011. Yi Sŭng-man kwa kŭ ŭi sidae [Syngman Rhee and his era]. Seoul: Kip'arang.Google Scholar
Yi, Hye-ryŏng. 2006. “Han'gŭl undong kwa kŭndae midiŏ” [The Han'gŭl movement and modern media]. In Haebang chŏnhusa ŭi chaeinsik, vol. 1, edited by Chi-hyang, Pak, Ch’ŏl, Kim, Il-yŏng, Kim, and Yŏng-hun, Yi, 556–98. Seoul: Ch'aek Sesang.Google Scholar
Yi, Yŏng-hun. 2006. “Wae tasi haebang chŏnhusain'ga” [Why again history before and after liberation?]. In Haebang chŏnhusa ŭi chaeinsik, vol. 1, edited by Chi-hyang, Pak, Ch’ŏl, Kim, Il-yŏng, Kim, and Yŏng-hun, Yi, 25–63. Seoul: Ch'aek Sesang.Google Scholar
Yi, Yŏng-hun. 2007. Taehan Min'guk iyagi [The story of the Republic of Korea]. Seoul: Kip'arang.Google Scholar
Yi, Yŏng-hun, Nang-nyŏn, Kim, Yong-sam, Kim, Ik-chong, Chu, An-gi, Chŏng, and U-yŏn, Yi. 2019. Panil chongjokchuŭi: Taehan Min'guk wigi ŭi kŭnwŏn [Anti-Japanese tribalism: The origins of the crisis of the Republic of Korea]. Seoul: Miraesa.Google Scholar
Yu, Yŏng-ik. 2006. “Kŏsijŏk ŭro pon 1950 nyŏndae ŭi yŏksa—Namhan ŭi pyŏnhwa rŭl chungsim ŭro” [Macroscopic examination of 1950s history: Focusing on the transformations of South Korea]. In Haebang chŏnhusa ŭi chaeinsik, vol. 2, edited by Chi-hyang, Pak, Ch’ŏl, Kim, Il-yŏng, Kim, and Yŏng-hun, Yi, 433–81. Seoul: Ch'aek Sesang.Google Scholar
Yun, Hae-dong, Chŏng-hwan, Ch’ŏn, Su, Hŏ, Pyŏng-ju, Hwang, Yong-gi, Yi, and Tae-sŏk, Yun, eds. 2006. Kŭndae rŭl tasi ingnŭnda: Han'guk kŭndae insik ŭi saeroun p'aerŏdaim ŭl wihayŏ. Vol. 1. Seoul: Yŏksa Pip'yŏngsa.Google Scholar
Yun, Min-hyŏk. 2019. “Cho Kuk ‘kuyŏkchil nanda’ pip'anhan ‘Panil chongjokchuŭi,’ Kyobo Mun'go chugan 1 wi” [Anti-Japanese Tribalism, a book that Cho Kuk criticized as “nausea-inducing,” reaches top spot of Kyobo Mun'go's weekly best-seller list]. Chosŏn ilbo, August 16. http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2019/08/16/2019081601464.html (accessed December 3, 2020).Google Scholar