환동해권 한민족문화와 문화관계망 구축 - 재외한인 사회를 중심으로 -

Abstract

This paper aims to examine how changes in the cultural policies of China, Japan, and Russian, nations which surround the East Sea Rim, have influenced the cultural activities in minority Korean societies, such as Korean Chinese, Korean Japanese, and Korean Russian, while also reflecting on the effects of Korean culture on them. The ethnic cultures of overseas Koreans along the East Sea Rim region demonstrate different patterns due to, amongst other factors, historical experiences and cultural policies. For example, the Korean Chinese have maintained and developed their own unique ethnic culture through the cultural centers pioneered by the Chinese authorities and which are located in the cities or districts in their autonomous regions and other northeast regions of China. In the past, while the Chosun people in Japan did form an ethnic enclave, some subsequently initiated a civic exchange with Korean Japanese. The levels of this cultural exchange has of late been increasing, in line with improvements to the image of Korea and also thanks to the support of Korean and Japanese NGOs, whose work has been facilitated by the strengthened international status of Korea and the ‘Korean Wave’(Hallyu). Despite these positive trends elsewhere, Korean Russians(Koryo People) who live along the Primorsky Kri have faced the necessity of receiving external assistance. This particular grouping has almost lost its ethnic culture, with its members rapidly assimilating into Russian culture, with the consequent loss to ethnic community. The reasons for this are the ban on the use of their ethnic language, Korean, during the times of the former Soviet Union; additionally, such people were to move to the cities after the collapse of the Soviet Union so as to avoid racial discrimination and to search for jobs under the independent nations. Although a Koryo cultural center has been established under the aegis of the Korean government and an annual festival has continued to be held with the support of NGOs, such initiatives require continuous support due to a lack of self-reliant cultural capacity. With the adjacent minority Korean communities that are institutionally connected within the East Sea Rim reinforcing their mutual exchange across their ethnic cultures by ethnic cultural networks such as cyber communities, such efforts will play a crucial role in recovering the overseas Koreans’ lost sense of Korean ethnic identity.