The national crisis and de/reconstructing nationalism in South Korea during the IMF intervention

Abstract

This paper explores the process by which Korean nationalism was challenged and transformed through utilizing sports celebrities as iconic figures during the International Monetary Fund (IMF) intervention in South Korea. The influences of the IMF intervention were not limited to economic and political fields; rather, Korean nationalism had undergone substantial changes through the national crisis. At that time, two Korean athletes who were hugely successful in the US became national celebrities, or even national heroes in South Korea, a baseball player, Chan‐ho Park and a goler Se‐ri Pak. The media representation of these two Korean athletes is useful for the understanding of altered nationalism during the IMF intervention. The analysis of media coverage of these two athletes can be summarized in three ways: first, the coverage is focused on a self‐governing individual; second, that individual is invested with the image of economic success in global competition; and third, that individual is invested with the image of responsibility for both family and nation‐state. Conclusively, the two celebrities were presented as models for a new kind of citizenship, i.e. a national individual. Finally, this paper suggests that Korean nationalism has been altered through the IMF intervention, but remains a hegemonic ideology albeit combined with neoliberalism.