북한 담론의 역사와 재현의 정치학: 1950~1970년대 북한 담론의 형성과 변환을 중심으로

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the process of the formation of North Korean discourse after the Korean War and explain how the discourse changed over time. Therefore, this paper aims to reveal the conditions that enabled the formation and transformation of the North Korean discourse and examine the historicity of the North Korean representations. It is meaningful to discuss the historical discourse that formed the perception of North Korea. Because it makes us question ‘How did North Korea exist in South Korean society?’ in other words, ‘What was North Korea that South Koreans saw and heard under the division system which produced numerous prohibitions on representation?’ The North Korean discourse tells the story of actual changes made in the North Korean society, while also showing how the South Korean society has imagined the North. The division has turned everything which could be experienced into a taboo. All sorts of communication have been blocked across political, social, cultural and artistic fields, and everything about North Korea has turned into an “untouchable object.” Also, over the past half century, North Korea has had representations such as “the power behind”, “devil”, “virus”, “poverty”, and “mental illness,” and has gradually transformed into a evil agent which represents “abnormality.” And these representations have had a decisive impact on the way South Koreans understand North Korea and imagine the others(North Korea, Zainichi Koreans, Korean Chinese, North Korean refugees). In this context, this paper raises the necessity for illuminating North Korea as a discursive formations and a self-reflector of South Korean society. The images we see and imagine up interact with the representational system established in our society. The understanding of the object could be limited or extended by these representational schemes. The images and representations of North Korea and the way it is spoken in the present Korean society cannot be explained without an understanding of the long-standing representation system. Furthermore, In South Korean society, representing North Korea was not limited to the purpose of simply describing “North Korea in itself.” Imagining North Korea could not be performed without the desire of recreating “self” (South Korea). Therefore, the story about North Korea eventually converges to the story of South Korea, in other words, ‘self-narrative.’ Meanwhile, the exceptional agents that crossed the border under the division system(North Korean defectors) and the way they have been portrayed in Korean society need to be noticed. Their presence in itself is an important subject of research, as it reveals the aporia of politics and representation, which has been triggered by two political regimes for many years.