Seoul Journal of Korean Studies最新文献

Abstract:

About 100 years ago, Bukchon occupied a much larger part of Seoul than today, encompassing neighborhoods north of Cheonggyecheon. It was an area where middle-and upper-class residents lived continuously from the Joseon dynasty and major elite educational institutions were concentrated. This study first looks into the educational institutions of Bukchon from the late 19th to the early 20th century, following the Gabo Reform which abolished the status system. It argues that the middle class and students from the provinces migrated to Gyeongseong to take advantage of the educational institutions located in Bukchon. Next, with data on the location of schools and the students’ residency situation around the 1930s, this study examines the trend of educational migration to Bukchon during the colonial period. The analysis reveals that the educational institutions established in the late 19th century persisted and expanded during the colonial period, which led to the continuous movement to the capital of the middle class and students who desired to reproduce their class and achieve economic stability.

Abstract:

The Gyoseogwan 校書館 was a prominent national publishing institution in Korea that played a major role in publishing anthologies in late Joseon-period Korea. One such anthology was the Guamjip 龜巖集, the collected works of the distinguished Hamgyeong-do scholar Yi Wonbae 李元培 (1745–1802), published by the Gyoseogwan in 1820. The Hoedangjip 晦堂集, the collected works of Yi’s disciple Hyeon Iksu 玄翼洙 (1766–1827), includes a detailed account of the process of preparing, publishing, distributing, and preserving the Guamjip. In the present study, I examine the Hoedangjip, existing copies of the Guamjip, and various related historical records to explore the conditions of nineteenth-century publishing at the Gyoseogwan, yielding five primary findings. First, I reveal the dedicated work of Yi’s disciple Hyeon as he spent twenty years meticulously preparing and publishing his teacher’s collection, collecting and organizing materials, securing funding, selecting a publication venue, carrying out the publishing process, and distributing and preserving the eventual product. Second, I offer insight into the activities of publishing institutions such as the Gyoseogwan and individual publishers in nineteenthth-century Seoul. Third, I confirm the tradition of separating the main text and appendix in printed publications. Fourth, my analysis of the existing copies of the Guamjip sheds light on publishing quality at the Gyoseogwan in the nineteenth century. Fifth, I reveal that a national storage facility known in Korean as a sago 史庫 was used for the preservation and dissemination of anthologies in the nineteenth century. Until 2023, the understanding of the Gyoseogwan’s publication activities was limited to the status and significance of its publications. The current study thus bears considerable significance as the first to delve into the Gyoseogwan’s nineteenth-century publishing activities and culture.

Reviewed by:

• Ryu Sŏngnyong, Chancellor of Chosŏn Korea: On the Battlefield and in Memory by Choi Byonghyon
• Adam Bohnet

Many years ago, I taught an undergraduate class in Halifax about the Imjin War (1592–1598), a massive invasion of Chosŏn Korea by Japan under the kampaku (regent) of Japan, Hideyoshi (1537–1598), which elicited a military intervention from the Ming empire. The class went notably well, in part thanks to the primary text that I used, namely passages from the Chingbirok (Book of corrections) by Yu Sŏngnyong (1542–1607), translated by Choi Byonghyon. It was a popular choice and elicited a productive argument between two members of the Canadian military attending my class. One officer, who primarily worked behind the scenes assessing risks, was impressed by what he perceived to be Yu’s clarity and forthright discussion of the failures of the Chosŏn state during the Imjin War—I remember that he described Yu Sŏngnyong as “a straight shooter who didn’t sugarcoat problems.” Another student, a naval officer with a naval officer’s strident opinions, who was clearly on tense terms with his senior officers, thought that Yu Sŏngnyong resembled a “bean counter,” and compared him to a politician working far from the front who had no understanding of the real challenges of war, but who was adept at creating a convenient narrative that largely absolved himself from blame. What was wonderful about this discussion was that both students could base their opinions on an internal analysis of the text, beautifully translated by Choi into English. Their disagreement, moreover, continued debates that extended back to Yu Sŏngnyong’s own lifetime. It is clear that Yu, while writing the Chingbirok, genuinely wanted to understand the causes of Chosŏn’s military failures, but at the same time he generally avoided taking responsibility for wartime disasters, and it is indeed true that he spent the war primarily in court, directing the military in relative safety from behind the scenes.

I was thus most pleased to learn that Choi Byonghyon has also now translated a biography of Yu Sŏngnyong (1542–1607), or “Ryu Sŏngnyong,” following his rendering of the surname.¹ Yu was a highly significant political figure, who rose to the very top of the civil bureaucratic hierarchy of Chosŏn, and who served prominently before and during the Imjin War. Yu was also a prolific author and [End Page 86] scholar. His many writings about the war are key sources for all who study it, and include the aforementioned Chingbirok, a work t

Abstract:

Joseon interpreters in the Qing Empire were chosen from Korean bannermen and their descendants, who took the initiative to join the Qing Empire or were captured by Qing armies during war. They were a group of “transfrontiersmen” who were able to greatly influence the Qing-Joseon relationship. They maintained extensive interpersonal relationships in Korea and especially kept a good relationship with the Korean interpreters at the Bureau of Interpreters. Joseon interpreters in the early Qing even had family members in Korea. Joseon interpreters were Koreans by ethnicity but were significantly Manchurized, so they maintained a dual identity of both Koreans and Qing bannermen at least until the Qinglong era. The Joseon court was also well aware of this. It always utilized the Joseon interpreters’ interpersonal relationships and identity to gather Qing intelligence and request their assistance in various matters. Still, it could never fully trust these “Koreans” who were serving another country, especially when confidential matters were involved.

Reviewed by:

• BTS on the Road by Seok-Kyeong Hong
• Ria Chae

It was time to restart the class after a break, but many desks remained empty. Instead of the sound of students moving their chairs, I heard someone jump in the hallway just outside the classroom door. When I opened it, I saw the students taking my course in the international summer school in Seoul, including both Koreans and non-Koreans, doing what looked like an unusual exercise. It turned out to be a rehearsal of the “horse dance” they planned to perform at a party after the completion ceremony. A few days later, I flew to New York and, listening to the local radio, counted “Gangnam Style” playing at least four times during my thirty-minute drive from the airport. I could not believe I was halfway across the globe from Korea. Fast-forward five years, and a conference brought me to Helsinki. As I passed an ordinary-looking clothing store, I heard through its open windows an instrumental version of a very familiar-sounding song. The realization of what it was made me stop in disbelief: “Fire.”

Despite the exponential growth of Hallyu for two decades since the late 1990s, both the success of Psy’s “Gangnam Style” in 2012 and BTS’ breakthrough in North America in 2017 took media, scholars, and the public by surprise, each time sparking debate on whether this act was an outlier or representative of Hallyu. BTS on the Road by Seok-Kyeong Hong, a professor of communication at Seoul National University, addresses this question regarding BTS, showing the ways in which the band conforms to and diverges from Hallyu. As such, the book is not only about BTS but also K-pop—and at times Hallyu—at large. It is based on extensive field research, online and offline, and interviews carried out by Hong for three years prior to the publication of the original Korean version in 2020. To answer the book’s overarching question—“How did BTS transcend K-pop and move people all over the world?” (3)—Hong well reflects the interdisciplinarity of Hallyu/K-pop studies by delving into a different field or discipline in each chapter, while also demonstrating an encyclopedic knowledge and minute understanding of the multiple facets of Hallyu befitting a leading scholar of Hallyu studies in Korea.

Chapter 1, for example, which introduces the reader to the production and distribution systems and fandom culture of K-pop, includes a discussion of hybridity and counter-hegemonic flows. Hong first explains the deep influence of Korean media culture on the formation of BTS, role of K-pop fandom culture on social media in the rise of the band’s popularity, and importance of distribution strategy, mastered by the Korean

Reviewed by:

• Flower of Capitalism: South Korean Advertising at a Crossroads by Olga Fedorenko
• Keewoong Lee

Years ago, when I started my PhD, my supervisor, who was British, handed me a scrap of an advert for my reference. It was a largish newspaper ad for Hyundai Motor Company (hereafter Hyundai) from 1991 published in The Korea Economic Weekly. The ad shows an illustration of the Korean Peninsula, in [End Page 683] which cars drive on a long road that stretches from the northern to the southern ends of the peninsula. The rather prosaic copy reads, "The Korean Peninsula should be a unified land. All 70 million Koreans share the same dream." There is no sales pitch in sight. All you can see is the promotion of a good cause, that is the reunification of Korea.

Advertising is commercial speech. Sometimes, however, we come across advertisements that deviate from this stereotype. Just like the Hyundai ad mentioned above, there are ads not made to sell something but to communicate messages of public interest or transmit certain affects. Olga Fedorenko's Flower of Capitalism: South Korean Advertising at a Crossroads (hereafter Flower of Capitalism) focuses on this kind of advertising. Fedorenko's argument here is that publicness is a key characteristic of South Korean (hereafter Korean) advertising. In Korea, publicness is not confined to public service announcements but permeated into a broad range of advertisements. In fact, Fedorenko was surprised to find that Korean people do not appear to distinguish non-commercial public service announcements and commercial advertisements. Both are thrown into the same category of kwanggo or advertisement together with classifieds and notices of condolence (6).

The title of the book comes from the popular metaphor of unknown origin. Although Fedorenko interprets flower as "the crucial part of a phenomenon," it is equally plausible to take it as its opposite; that is, "something beautiful and glamorous but inessential." Fedorenko adopted this metaphor to show "willful disregard for advertising's commercial dimension" (7). However, I take it to mean the extraordinariness of "unlikely advertising," or an advertisement that does not look like one (29). From a foreigner's point of view, this brand of advertising might appear different and surprising. Indeed, that was my supervisor's reaction to the aforementioned Hyundai ad. While receiving all the praise and celebration, however, this kind of advertising remains a small minority in Korea, a small island in the sea of banal hard sell. Perhaps banality is the real fa

Reviewed by:

• Understanding Korean Webtoon Culture: Transmedia Storytelling, Digital Platforms, and Genres by Dal Yong Jin
• Hojin Song

As the first monograph on South Korean (hereafter Korean) webtoons, Dal Yong Jin's new book, Understanding Korean Webtoon Culture: Transmedia Storytelling, Digital Platforms, and Genres, examines webtoons as a pivotal cultural product poised to shape the next generation of hallyu. Webtoons represent a novel youth culture that has evolved through integration of digital media, originating from print comics (manhwa). Distinguished from their printed counterparts, webtoons captivate audiences with their distinctive vertical format, vibrant color palettes, purposeful spacious layouts, and imaginative incorporation of sounds and visual effects. This book delves deep into "a critical understanding of webtoons as a transnational media phenomenon" (8), shedding light on their technological development, the political, economic, and sociocultural factors that underpin their significance, platformization, and their emergence as a transnational, transmedia storytelling phenomenon.

In its exploration of the evolution of webtoons, Understanding Korean Webtoon Culture divides their history into four chronological eras, effectively charting their development. The inception of webtoons can be traced back to the late 1990s, when they rapidly emerged as a prominent facet of youth culture. During the first generation, webtoons owed their growth to advancements in the internet and the establishment of websites. Transitioning into the early 2000s, major internet portals, such as Daum and Naver, began to offer their own dedicated webtoon pages. These platforms, during the second era, fostered distinct attributes that set webtoons apart from traditional manhwa. The third era was ushered in by the advent of mobile phone technology and government-driven investment, resulting in an expansive diversification of genres and themes with richer and more elaborate storylines. Consequently, webtoons evolved into primary source material for big-screen adaptations. In the most recent era, spanning from the mid- to late-2010s, webtoons entered a phase of convergence [End Page 686] with social media, expanding globally and solidifying their status as a significant cultural export.

The concept of platformization provides a framework to effectively examine the production of webtoons, especially in discussing the political economy of webtoon platforms and their role within the Korean cultural industries. Platformization refe

• Note from the Editor
• John P. DiMoia, Editor-in-chief

As SJKS approaches publication of another issue, we continue to develop common themes from our June 2023 issue, offering a combination of original articles, along with the second half of a special issue. In the latter case, organized by Professor Jackie J. Kim-Wachutka, we are extremely pleased to offer a rich set of papers concerning broad themes of Zainichi culture. The contributors to these special issues come from fourteen different countries, a point emphasizing the broad academic networks and international range of scholarship.

Together these papers consider issues of identity and the complex circumstances in which these groups negotiate, live, and develop their own communities. Although I will not develop these themes here, leaving that for Dr. Kim-Wachutka's introduction as special edition editor, I would like to add that this theme is currently proving extremely important within Korean Studies, not only in North America, but also in Japan and throughout East Asia. Indeed, along with Zainichi, the broader Korean diaspora and its implications for a diverse range of communities continues to hold significance as the two Koreas and Koreans continue to journey to new places, with migration shaping new patterns in terms of both the domestic and international contexts.

For our regular issue, the three papers (two papers and a review essay) here offer a range of topics, with a common element expressed in terms of probing the place of Korean content across different languages and contexts. Heeyoung Choi's paper takes up an English-language drama on the stage in early twentieth century Hawaii, meaning that it represents another site of Korean identity in flux. Many will know that Hawaii represented one of the first sites of international recruitment for Koreans in the late nineteenth century, and that it played a role as a special kind of interstitial space, with multiple Asian populations brought there for agricultural labor, shipping, and similar kinds of arduous work. Alyssa Park's contribution takes up the migratory patterns of Koreans at another point of time, considering 1945 and the period of post-haebang [End Page vii] repatriation (1945–1950), which forced numerous Koreans to re-evaluate their links to "home," along with their conception of personal identity. These repatriates, refugees, and returnees placed pressure on existing categories, and of course, intersected with the process of division, as North and South Korea were each in the course of formation, although still very much contingent. In looking at this period, Park seeks to complicate Cold War binaries, and presumably the standard periodization.

The third paper, a review essay of Japanese-language historio

Abstract:

As a memory place that exemplifies contemporary Zainichi experiences, the Utoro district in Kyoto, Japan, entails stories of Japan's colonial exploitation and postcolonial oppression, yet simultaneously reveals human hope, cooperation, and solidarity. First formed for the Korean workers and their families mobilized for the construction of a military airport during World War II, Utoro was left abandoned for decades in postwar Japan. Its Korean residents have suffered from continuous eviction suits, harassment, and violence including the most recent arson attack in 2022. At the same time, these intricacies of colonial origin and postcolonial controversy also invited networked grassroots efforts among the Japanese and Koreans to remember and reconstruct the place's sociohistorical meanings, resulting in the construction of the Utoro Peace Memorial Museum in 2022. This paper highlights the significance of Zainichi experiences with/in Utoro through an analysis of identity, discourse, and representation of the place. Drawing upon collective memory scholarship and adopting a theoretical framework of re-collection, the paper unravels complex meanings of a site in relation to human acts of remembering, making sense of, and finding significance to our past experiences with/in it. By situating visual and discursive voices of the Utoro community (Zainichi in Utoro), such as its former residents' oral testimonies and museum displays, this study elucidates the significance of Utoro in Zainichi history. This paper argues that Utoro projects contradictory positionalities of Korean subjects as both integral and excess in the history of colonial and postcolonial socio-politics of ethno-racial Other in Japan.

Abstract:

In 1938, Koreans in Hawai'i premiered an English-language play, Sim Cheong (Sim Chung), at the Honolulu Academy of Arts to celebrate the Korean Spring Festival. Sim Cheong is an adaptation by a second-generation Korean of a cherished Korean folktale, The Story of Sim Cheong, emphasizing filial piety. This study uses Sim Cheong to examine the cultural milieu of 1930s Hawai'i and the complex identities interwoven within the Korean diaspora, revealing efforts by Koreans to preserve their ethnic pride while creating a sense of closeness with the white upper class. The adaptation signalled a dramaturgical shift from the original story, often framed in the context of Confucianism and Buddhism, to a theatrical production incorporating musical performances and revised storylines. This shift is encapsulated in the contrast between the play's downplaying of the boat scene, commonly regarded as pivotal in illustrating the protagonist's commitment to filial piety, and accentuation of the scene depicting the initial encounter between Sim Cheong and the King, presenting independent and diverse elements of Korean culture and conveying undertones of Christian belief. Through this analysis of local political, social, and cultural realms, this study identifies dual identities existing in the Korean diaspora surpassing the confines of a generic pan-ethnic Asian American identity, unraveling the intricate interplay between the preservation of ethnic pride and the imperative of assimilation within the broader sociocultural landscape.