Think Tank 2022: Global Forum
February 3 (Thursday), 2022 - 9:00-10:10
Session 6: International Association of Academicians for Peace
The Role of Academicians in Bringing Peace to the Korean Peninsula
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Anthropological perspective: importance of knowing the other: What do we know about North Korea?
Ok-Kyung Pak Ph.D (cultural anthropologist)
University of Montreal, Research Associate
I will be speaking today from the perspective of cultural anthropology.
The role of an anthropologist is to understand « the other ». That is, to observe, listen and live among people, usually in an exotic society, to understand their custom, their way of thinking, their way of relating with each other. The underlying assumption is that the world of « the other » is very different from ours and we should not use our own lenses if we want to understand properly the other.
In anthropology, we use concepts of «emic view» and « etic view» to study « the other». An emic view of culture is a perspective focussing on the intrinsic cultural distinctions that are meaningful to the members of a given society, often considered to be an 'insider's' perspective. An etic view of a culture is the perspective of an outsider looking in. For example, if an American anthropologist went to Africa to study a nomadic tribe, his/her resulting case study would be from an etic standpoint, if he/she did not integrate themselves into the culture they were observing.
My first contact with North Korea is through images of the North Koreans introduced at school when I was a young child (1960’s) in South Korea. South and North Korea have been separated since the Korean War (1950-53) for more than 10 years then and there were no contacts between them. South Koreans were told that North Koreans are « demons with red face and horns ». As a child, I never doubted this presentation, but also never questioned what it meant. This representation is deeply seated in Korean Psychic and from this comes the naming of « the red », referring to North Koreans and communists, spreading fear in people’s mind. Even now (in 2022) , Many people in South Korea still believe this image of N. Koreans. I discovered through people I meet in Canada and Europe that they also hold the same image of North Koreans as « demons ».
I left Korea for America soon after in 1964 like many Korean families and forgot about the « red demons ». I studied anthropology looking at the cultures of the island of Sumatra (Indonesia), Jeju Island (Korea), and different immigrant communities in Canada. My interpretation of these societies is based on looking into « insiders perpective » speaking their language and living with them, asking them why they do what they do, how they see the world.
60 years later, I became interested in North Korea and I even visited there in 2018. Canadians are free to visit North Korea until break out of the pandemic. I discovered that they are not « red faced demons », as I was told! They looked exactly like me and they had same norms and etiquettes (eg. politeness towards others, respect towards elderly, love of children and importance of their education) as mine as I was raised in South Korea. I am discovering at the moment how I have been ignorant about North Korea and educating myself through reading N.Korean novels, watching YouTube films on North Korea, listening to lectures on North Korea by South Korean and foreign scholars. It helps me to understand the North Korean « insiders’ » perspective - emic view.
How can we make peace with people who are projected to us by media and politicians as demons and evils (« axis of evil » as one American president said) ? How can we bring reconciliation to the Korean Peninsula, if we don’t know how the North Koreans think, what they want, what they need, what they do?
Let us take an example of the most discussed topic relating to North Korea - US-led sanctions and the most recent hot issue - North Korea’s « conventional weapons threat », as it was described, which is the topic discussed at the Washington Brief webinar on Tuesday (Feb. 1, 2022). The full title of the conference was « All quiet on the Northern Front? Assessing tensions between the ROK and DPRK, the conventional weapons threat and the US military presence on the Korean Peninsula ». « The conventional weapons threat » mentioned here refers to the most recent North Korean missile test (Monday, 31 January 2022).
Have we asked why North Korea keeps on testing missile weapons?
According to one BBC analyst (BBC Korean Service), « This test was intended to verify whether the missile system worked as it should, rather than to show off new technology or to threaten, quoting the North Korean official announcement. Furthermore, this test was already announced during the 8th Party Congress in January, 2022, Kim Jeong-Eun said the development of military reconnaissance satellites and hypersonic missiles, along with unmanned attack drones are the major goals of the Party Congress for the next 5-year plan. The same analyst above mentioned interprets that a surge in missile tests indicates the « North Korean economic struggles » under us-led sanctions on North Korea.
It is obvious, according to analysis of many South Korean and foreign scholars,
what is desired by North Korea are:
release of sanctions, which keeps on tightening more and more, threatening the survival of the North Korean population in their access to food, their economy and security. Sanction is a US-led hostile act and violence to the North Korean view, threatening the survival of the North Korean population, especially vulnerable women and children;
halt to Joint American-South Korean military exercise taking place several times a year, which is a virtual war for North Koreans. Preparation against this military exercise drains the North Korean economy which has to prepare against a possible attack any time. During this time, the North Korean army’s manpower is diverted to military defence from their civilian work (e.g. construction of buildings, agricultural food production)
The US Ambassador To the UN, Linda Thomas Greenfield said ( 2022 Jan.30):
« We are opened to the diplomatic talks with North Korea, with no precondition. »
« Our aime is to end North Korea’s threatening behaviour »
Who is threatening whom?
North Korea’s conventional weapons?
US- led sanctions threatening the survival of North Korean population?
How can we bring peace to the Korean Peninsula,
When all parties feel threatened?
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