A Beckoning from the Past: An Examination of Korean Identity in the 20th Century Through the Case Studies of Two Korean Individuals

Abstract

According to historian Carter Eckert, in the late nineteenth century, “there was little, if any, feeling of loyalty toward the abstract concept of Korea as a nationstate, or toward fellow inhabitants of the peninsula as Koreans.” In this statement, Eckert provides a concise description of the issue of Korean identity in the nineteenth century. The problem existed in the lack of identity among the inhabitants of the peninsula as “Koreans.” By the twentieth century, following the turbulent opening of Korea by foreign powers, the inhabitants of the peninsula found it necessary to define themselves as a distinct community in the international sphere. At this point, intellectuals on the peninsula faced a new challenge to define exactly what comprised a Korean identity. Although the factors involved in the issue of Korean identity changed in the late nineteenth century, the fundamental problem of Korean identity persisted through the twentieth century. Elements such as constant foreign intervention, wars, and division of the peninsula only complicated the issue of Korean identity. In response to the various historical processes occurring on the peninsula, the Korean people were forced to attempt to define themselves as unique and independent. Whereas they had previously considered themselves as only a part of a larger Sinocentric world, Koreans needed to adapt to a largely Western-influenced discourse on nationhood and identity in order to prevent being completely assimilated into Japanese culture and the discourse of Japanese imperialism in the twentieth century. In the following chapters, I will examine the effects of the grander historical processes occurring on the peninsula (i.e., colonization, foreign intervention and occupation, migration, and war) upon two Korean individuals who lived through these events and their conceptions of identity. These accounts will illuminate the environment of the discourse on identity on the peninsula and clarify some factors which affected the formation of a Korean identity in the twentieth century.