남북한의 ‘통일문학’지와 통일문학선집의 비판적 분석－북한학에서 한반도학으로

Abstract

The article analyzes whether literature from the two Koreas on the Korean Peninsula can be viewed comprehensively. In order to do so, a critical comparison between the existing "Unification Literature" magazine and "Unification Literature" collection of works is evaluated. The magazine was published three times in 1989, 2002 and 2008. The Tongil Literature magazine (1989-2007, Volume 75), an organ of the Unification Literature Division of North Korea's Korean Writers' League, is located in the center of North Korea. The Tongil Literature magazine (2002-2007, Volume 9) published by the Seoul Pyongyang Cultural Exchange Association in South Korea is central to the South. Both are products of self-centered integration, so there are many problems. On the other side, The Tongil Literature magazine (2008-2009, Volume 3), the organ paper of the 6ㆍ15 Association of Korean Literature, an integrated organization of writers from the two Koreas, is valuable as a unified literature. Meanwhile, South Korea’s "Unification Literature Collection (2003, CD-ROM)" published 5,300 inter-Korean works, but has a limitation of being centered on the South. In addition, CD-ROMs have been put out of circulation. Moreover, North Korea’s latest edition of "The Collection of Unification Literature(2015-2019, Volume 17, continued publication)" has gathered literature that criticizes the South, rather than "unification" literature. Therefore, it is hard to say that the existing magazines and collections titled "Unified Literature" are the products of genuine unification literature or literary integration. To recognize the reality of the divided Korean Peninsula literature and to truly integrate it, the existing self-centered vested interests must be laid down. They should reboot to "Korea Literature," not to "South Korean literature or North Korean literature. So far, it is time to abandon the long-standing practice of "North Korean studies" dealing with North Korean literature and re-emerge as "Korean studies."