'분단'과 '분단'을 잇다 : 미군정기 오키나와의 국제연대운동과 한반도

Abstract

In this article, against the background of the relationship between Okinawa and Korean Peninsula up to the time of Okinawan reversion in 1972, I will reexamine the history of the solidarity movement between North Korea and Okinawa – which developed as a part of the Third World national liberation movement – and will reassess its meanings. North and South Korea viewed US-ruled Okinawa differently, based on their respective security strategies. South Korea actively supported the US military administration of Okinawa and even sponsored, through APACL, a movement for establishing a pro-American, anti-Communist independent state there. After its integration into the Japan-centred system of Asian security following its normalization with Japan in 1965, South Korea intervened actively in Okinawa reversal negotiations and contributed to obtaining guarantees for a stable American use of the bases there. On the other hand, North Korea demonstrated its solidarity with the Okinawans’ “Motherland Reversal Movement” through AAPSC and other Third World movement organizations, then on the peak of their activities. From its viewpoint, both Korean and Okinawan issues were caused by the national divisions brought by foreign military intervention; for both, the common aim was national unification. However, the armed struggle line chosen at that point by North Korea as the main tool of solidarity with the Third World liberation movements, in the end was used by US and Japan as a pretext for continuous stationing of the US bases on Okinawa and the Japanese rearmament. Solidarity born out of resistant, anti-hegemonic nationalism failed to contribute to deescalating tensions in the East Asian region. The activists who are attempting now to build lasting peace through the down-top solidarity from below, based on the awareness of the similarities in the respective positions of Korea and Okinawa, both placed – against one another - on the frontlines between the two hegemonic power blocs, should draw their lessons from such precedents.