the grand minjok idea WAS a scheme

     Every four years, 50 million people, come together. These people fill up large stadiums, big plazas and huge theaters. Most of these people either have red shirts on or tattoos with the color of red and blue on their faces or both. The most recent occurrence of this event was 2010, and such happening is estimated to repeat itself in 2014. During these events, people forget whether someone is a person he or she knows or not. The important thing is that they are all together, looking towards the same goal. This event, which actually is the World Cup, helps the Korean minjok to once again be one, being a reminder of what kind of people we are. However one thing that people are not aware of is the truth of the term minjok. For quite a time, Koreans have known the word minjok as something that binds a certain group of people, especially with the same ethnicity, together. Some even think as if the term existed ever since Dangoon ruled the Korean peninsula. However the reality is that minjok is fairly a recent ideology, and it did not even originate from Korea. Also, while people think of minjok as a bright and family-like concept, the true purpose of the idea is much darker than what the general people view it as.

     Before further explanations on the truth of minjok, it is vital to consider the following question:  What is the definition of minjok? Thinking about this question for at least a minute will make someone’s mind burst. The question is mostly about where the limitations of a single minjok should be placed. Standards such as race, ethnicity, cultural identity and country of birth are all the lines that should be considered when define minjok, but none of these words successfully draw the accurate line between two different minjok, for example the Korean minjok and the Chinese minjok. This mere fact that minjok is so hard to define leads to countless arguments on what the true definition of it truly is. Still in a general sense, minjok is mostly linked to a group of people that are sharing the same idea and maybe the same ethnicity. With this in mind, it is possible to look at certain historical clues that tells us how the term minjok has originated in order to investigate further in how this ideology is influencing our lives.

     The beginning of minjok dates back to the French revolution, a French nationalism, a kind of bond that makes people get together for the same political purpose. However, the real usage of it is shown right before the Second World War. In a popular theory, Adolf Hitler was behind the widespread of the idea of nationalism, in other words, minjok. As Germany lost World War I, the country landed on an enormous amount of war debt which caused the entire society to collapse. Hitler, who was the potential leader of Germany at that time tried to figure out a method to unite the citizens of Germany in order to reconstruct the country from the pit it had fallen into. He decided to borrow the ideology of ‘nationalism’ from the old French Revolution. The nationalism of the Germans were set by Hitler, under the following beliefs: 1) People of Germany are special, unlike any other race, as they are superior to all the others. 2) The main cause of the disaster Germany is facing is the Jewish, and they had been a parasite to the people of this country for a long time. 3) The only way to recover from the crisis Germany is facing is by starting a war, win the war and take over all the other countries that lead to our fall. This German Nationalism, this set of beliefs, this German community, the German minjok ideology of the 1930s is exactly what people know as the Nazis. Some may rage upon this saying, that our identity of the Korean minjok could never be the legacy of the Nazis. Fortunately, the Nazis are not the direct link to how our nationalism was formed as the story moves on, to when the Japanese adapt this term for similar usages.

     Japan, which was always a frontier in adapting western ideas, again took the idea from Germany for the similar reason, to form a stabilized army. Japanese imperialists also given the citizens the ideas that are quite like those of the Nazis that enabled themselves to morally justify “taking over the entire Asian region”. The strength of such brainwashing was so intense, becoming the secret of how kamikaze forces were created. However, the real usage of such nationalism comes to the surface as Japan acquires its first colony, South Korea. The very first action that the Japanese took as they inferior to Japanese. For this to work, what the Japanese needed to do was to differentiate the two groups of people. This is where the term of minjok comes out. The Japanese government at this time used a double plan. To the outer world, they implanted the idea that the Japanese people and the Korean people were initially one. The government then stated that the long division caused the Korean side to eventually be contaminated, and that the Japanese has the justification to rehabilitate the country. From the inside the Japanese government promoted the idea that the Korean people are inherently inferior to the Japanese, giving out the righteousness of the Japanese colony. Surprisingly, as time passed the people of Korea began to rather accept this idea of nationalism, and making the word ‘minjok’. Leaders of Korea then used it temporarily to unite the people to get their country back. In the end, the Leaders have succeeded, and Korea gained independence.

     Ever since Korea recovered from the colonization of the Japanese, the country had gone through a series of great changes. During the 1960s and the 1970s, one of the most controversial leaders of South Korea took over the nation through military power. This man was in reality, a dictator, but was one of the most important figures in the development of Korean economy. Park Jeong-hee was the person who was responsible for constructing all the basic infrastructures of a modern country. He was also responsible for the great development that followed even though Korea just recovered from the Second World War. Despite this leader was a great one, he was a dictator, and needed a plan to maintain his power without being overthrown by the citizens. Park Jeong-hee thought such plan was essential especially since the people were craving for freedom and democracy after the independence. Park Jeong-hee then brings out the old weapon, the weapon called the Korean nationalism. The former president once again used the concept of minjok, in order to set the priorities of the country to be development and recovery. He shouted out that it is important for everyone to be together, to join their workforces for the country. Just as expected the people of South Korea focused more on what the president told them less concerning about their personal gains and freedom, eventually leading to the gigantic development our country was enabled to flourish. This call for gathering workforces is the most recent time of which the term Korean nationalism was officially used by a strong power.

     In summary, between the ideology of the Nazis to the nationalism of contemporary South Korea lie several cases of which the idea of minjok was used in order to change the interest of the citizens of a country, from their personal interest to the overall development of the country. Unlike what many think, the term minjok is not a jolly and family-like idea. Looking back at what history tells you, the concept of minjok is merely an idea spread out by the government or another superpower for the purpose of distracting you from seeing what the real truth is. But is this true? It may be the grounds of the creation of the term, but in the current society it is hard to see any depression or government secret behind the shouts of the red demons during the world cup season. In conclusion, it can be said that the idea of minjok has fundamentally changed. While in the past it was for putting people together for a purpose, today it is for being together for a purpose. People are not being forced or brainwashed into believing that we are one, but they are rather unconsciously just the same minjok. No one teaches a person to like Kimchi, or perhaps Dokdo, or even the Korean national soccer team, although they are quiet bad in performance. These are simply what makes our minjok our minjok. Having these factors is exactly what makes us Korean. However this is where the contemporary definition of minjok becomes hard to set. With all the foreign workers flowing into Korea and with the increase of Korean people immigrating to other countries, what is the correct line that differentiates the Korean minjok from the rest?

     Going back to the past, all the countries that had the concept of nationalism had a similarity. The lines drawn to divide ‘us’ to ‘them’ was purely by the countries people and the race. For the Nazis, their minjok was consisted of only German people of the German race. For Japanese, the people superior to the inferior Koreans were no one but the Japanese themselves. The reason to why this was possible was the fact that back then, moving to another country to live there and learn the culture at the place was a very rare occasion. So, back then there were no conflicting values on who should be included as our minjok and who should not be. Coming back to the present, many people are moving around making it hard to set the standards on who is our minjok and who isn’t. For example, while some believes Sam Hammington, an Australian person who moved to Korea who speaks perfect Korean and shares many of the cultural identities that we have, to be part of the Korean minjok, others do not. Like this, the conflict is open on whether minjok should be considering more on the cultural parts and the beliefs an individual has, or on the ethnic and racial aspects of an individual.

     Personally, I think that it is not right to draw a line on who is included in our minjok or not. The idea of minjok is simply a helping hand, to gather people around to achieve goals that one person alone cannot achieve. Nowadays, the term minjok is mostly used when there is an event that unintentionally gathers people together. So, in a way, people who are enraged by the provocation by Japan, people who are shouting out for the victory of the South Korean soccer team, people who are part of the Korean identity during these special events are truly the ones we can call ‘our minjok’. And no matter where you live and where you were born in and what kind of skin color you have, one can be our minjok if they feel the same like everyone else in Korea. In conclusion I believe it is unnecessary to define minjok in the first place, the important thing is the feeling. The feeling just like when you hear good music. You do not know what kind of music is good, it is just that it IS good. In the end, for me, minjok is just a word. But the important thing is the bond that this word carries. The bond of which makes me understand other people and interact with them. The bond that helps me know if I am home or not. The bond that ensures me who I am. The bond called minjok.