Contextualizing the Discourse on Pro-Japanese Collaborators in the Process of Democratization after Democracy

Abstract

The purpose of this article lies in examining how The Hangyoreh took advantage of the discourse on pro-Japanese collaborators (ch’inilp’a damnon) for its progressive political stance in the post-democratization period from 1988 to 2002. As one of the representative progressive media of the day, The Hangyoreh took the initiative in re-introducing the once-forbidden topic of collaborators to society and claimed to have resettled the issue in present after Korea’s democratization in 1987. Furthermore, the newspaper utilized the discourse of ch’inilp’a, which reminds a negative memory of the failure of judging antinational traitors right after Korea’s liberation in 1945 and also “dire historical outcomes” that the rule of those unpurged collaborators brought into the development of post-1945 Korean history. By closely analyzing its editorials and reports, this article attempts to illuminate how the ch’inilp’a discourse in The Hangyoreh played a leading role in protecting, fostering, and furthering democratic progress, which Korean progressives thought was under the constant challenge during the post-democratization period.