Living a life in Korea, an individual would
frequently be exposed to the term ‘minjok’. It is a term most important in
explaining what Koreans are like, and what the society of Korea is like.
Without an understanding of this concept, one would not be able to understand
the Korea properly. Then, what exactly is ‘minjok’, and what impact does it
have in the Korean society?
The dictionary meaning of Minjok is ‘a
group of people who lived in the same region for a long period of time, and
therefore sharing the same language, cultural aspects, and possibly other
aspects like religion, way of thinking, dressing style, and so on. However, ‘Minjok’
in reality is quite different from this. Especially considering what it means
to Korea and its people, it means much more than that. In order to take a deep
look into the meaning of ‘Minjok’ to Koreans, I think that it is most important
to first find out its origin.
Our school, KMLA, includes 'minjok' in its name
Most of the people living here in Korea
perceive the concept of ‘Minjok’ to be an essential part of Korean history, as it
seems to be an innate feature of us. However, looking at the history of ‘Minjok’,
the concept is relatively new compared to the history of Korea, as it first
came onto surface during the Japanese Colonial Era. During the era, Japanese
tried to unite Korea and Japan into one by advocating the idea of nae-sun-il-chae, which claimed that Korea
and Japan were originally homogeneous ethnically, but separated due to
unavoidable reasons. In order to prevent complete assimilation, Korea needed
something that would serve as a shield that could protect Koreans from Japan’s
mental invasion. Therefore, scholars such as Shin Chae-Ho came up with the
concept of ‘minjok’ to unite Koreans and stimulate them to resist against the
Japan. In order to support this, these scholars invented the notion of a
unitary nation with Korean history and myths, which became the start of the theory
of ethnic history (Minjok-Sahak),
which significantly contributed to the formation of ‘minjok’ and the protection
of Korean identity from Japan.
Shin Chae-Ho
After independence, the concept of ‘minjok’
continued to be developed by ideologies that were set up by the following
rulers. The most important one was President Park Jung-Hee, who was a dictator
who ruled over Korea for almost 20 years, starting from 1961 to 1979 when he
was assassinated. President Park, although being notorious for his
dictatorship, achieved an outstanding economic development during his reign,
which is the reason Korea could reach its level. In order to achieve this
miraculous growth, however, he needed a mechanism that would unite people and
raise their productivity to the highest rate. Therefore, he utilized the
concept of ‘Minjok’ to brainwash people by emphasizing the importance of ethnic
nationalism, and to make them sacrifice parts of their freedom and rights for
the good of the Korean ‘minjok’. We could say that ‘minjok’ is a concept that
eventually led to the rise of Korea’s international position.
President Park Jung-Hee
Above was the history of the term ‘minjok’.
However, what I want to focus is the effect of ‘minjok’ in the present. Quite
surely, the concept of ‘minjok’ evidently still has a large effect in the modern
Korean society. This has both advantages and disadvantages in our society, all
of which must carefully be considered for the future of both us and our
society. First beneficial impact of the concept of ‘minjok’ is fast recovery
from crisis. One great example of this is ‘gold gathering campaign’. Starting
from January of 1997, a lot of companies went bankrupt and as a result, the
Republic of Korea fell into debt by IMF. In order to help Korea regain its
economical sovereignty, Koreans started to donate gold and money. Thinking in
terms of economy, this was an irrational choice to make, but thanks to Koreans’
firm belief and affection of ‘minjok’, Korea could recover from its crisis very
fast.
Another advantage is that people can unite
more efficiently. Koreans perceive themselves to be a part of the same ‘minjok’,
connected to each other with a strong bond. Therefore, people tend to unite
extremely effectively and fast, usually when it is directly related to the
whole ‘minjok’. The 2002 World Cup held in Korea and Japan is a perfect example
of this. The summer of 2002 is remembered to be a continuum of excitement,
passion, and unity. Millions of Koreans came down to the street and cheered
together for the victory of Korean national team. Even people who did not like
soccer prayed for the victory of Korea. Medias all around the world were amazed
by how Koreans could unite and cheer for their country. Not only this, Koreans’
tendency to unite easily was the main motive power for Korea’s outstanding
economic growth.
2002 World Cup is an example of unity formed by the concept of 'minjok'
However, there is also one great
disadvantage of ‘minjok’. It is the fact that most Koreans perceive the extent
of ‘minjok’ to be ‘a group consisting of people from the same ethnical
background’. Many Koreans think of themselves to be a member of their ‘Danil Minjok’, meaning that their minjok
consists of members sharing the same bloodline. It is quite natural that
bloodline is an essential part of the concept of ‘minjok’, as the concept
started to be used in a time when Korea was colonized by a foreign country.
Especially in this type of era, emphasizing the superiority and importance of
their own bloodline would have been a superb way to unite the people. This acts
as a serious obstacle for our society to interact with people from various
cultures, as many Korean still refuse to accept people with different ethnicity
to be a part of their society.
Considering the fact that the 21st
century is the era of globalization, this is a serious problem. As the boulders
between countries are being diminished and people are now actively interacting
internationally, it has become quite important to open our mind and cooperate
with people with other ethnic background. However, many Koreans even fail to live
in harmony with people from different ethnic background living in the same
region. Children from multicultural families often get bullied. Workers from
Southeastern Asian countries are often discriminated. Not only that, people who
committed racial discrimination rarely gets punished. The concept of ‘minjok’,
throughout its history, has helped Korea to reach its position, but is now
starting to block it from further development in this new era of globalization.
How could we cooperate and interact with people from all over the world when we
don’t even treat Koreans with different ethnic backgrounds as outsiders who
cannot truly be a part of our society?
Even the media often commits racial discrimination.
Another case of racism in Korea
Therefore, people should now change their ideas about the meaning of ‘minjok’. As mentioned above, the present ‘minjok’ is starting to have negative effects in the modern Korean society, and to overcome them, a change in the concept of minjok should be brought. Then, in what way would the idea of it change in the next few decades? As the society is now requiring its members to cooperate with foreigners, not to resist them, I believe that ethnicity would have less importance in the meaning of ‘minjok’ in the future. Instead, I believe that the meaning of ‘minjok’ would be close to that of a nation. People will feel a strong bond to each other not just because of the ethnicity, but because of each other’s nationality. Koreans’ emphasis on pure-blood country will gradually be diminished and therefore, the concept of ‘minjok’ will be more multicultural than before. As the era of globalization has come, we will have to change ourselves into understanding and living in harmony with people who have diverse ethnicity and cultural background.
We now come back to this question; what is ‘minjok’?
It is a very vague tem. Every individual has different opinions about what
exactly it is. However, there definitely is a common factor between the
different perceptions about ‘minjok’, and this is what formed a very strong
bond among Koreans. This strong bond and a sense of belonging became a motive
for Koreans to resist being assimilated by Japan, and sacrifice themselves for
the economic growth of Korea. It has made Koreans unite and overcome
difficulties. To make it short, the concept of ‘minjok’ is one of the most
important factors in explaining the development of Korean society in the modern
history, and also in explaining the characteristics shared by many Koreans. However,
it also causes some side effects in the modern society, such as the racial
discrimination. Koreans will have to constantly go through many changes in the
concept of ‘minjok’, until Korean society is fully ready to adjust to the new
age of globalization.
We must live together.
