The GW Undergraduate Review, Volume 4

41 KEYWORDS: Korean democracy, Gwangju Uprising, art censorship DOI: https://doi.org/10.4079/2578-9201.4(2021).08 The Past and Present of Cultural Censorship in South Korea: Minjung Art During and After the Gwangju Uprising VIVIAN KONG INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, ESIA ‘23, [email protected] ABSTRACT The Gwangju Uprising provided pivotal momentum for South Korea’s path toward democracy and was assisted by the artwork by Minjung artists. However, the state’s continuous censorship of democratic art ironically contradicts with the principles that Gwangju upholds, generating the question: how does the censorship of democratic artists during and after the Gwangju Democratic Uprising affect artistic political engagement and reflect upon South Korea’s democracy? I argue that censorship of Minjung art is hypocritical in nature by providing key characteristics of democracy the South Korean state fails to meet. Minjung art intends to push for political change and has roots in the Gwangju Uprising, an event that was the catalyst in creating a democratic state, yet the state continues to suppress a democratic freedom of expression. Looking to dissolve the line between activism and art, Korean Minjung artists have been producing content criticizing the state from the 1980s to modern day despite repression from the state. Past studies and first-person accounts on Gwangju have focused separately on authoritarian censorship on art or on modern cultural censorship. This paper seeks to bridge this gap and identify the parallels between artistic censorship during South Korea’s dictatorships and during its democracy to identify the hypocrisy of the state regarding art production and censorship. • INTRODUCTION regardless of class. It is a socio-political art form that criticizes imperialism and authoritarian politics On May 18, 1980, the Democratic Uprising in while focusing on community resistance (Joo, 2016, Gwangju, South Korea catapulted the nation toward p. 361). democracy after a history of military dictatorship. In The formation of Minjung art led to different this paper, the main components of democracy are groups and artists identifying with this art defined to be the preservation of individual rights, movement, notably the Gwangju Liberal Artists direct exercisable power by the people, and active Association. Members of the Association, known as 1 participation in civil society. There will be a focus Gwangjahyop, also participated in the Democratic on ordinary citizens engaging in collective action Uprising using art as propaganda and a form of to transform politics based on shared interests and political resistance (Lee, 2018, p. 63). Minjung 2 values. This definition focuses on societal aspects artists contributed to civil society by advocating of democracy in order to analyze the relationship for democracy in South Korea using collective between political art and the state. Democratic action despite the adverse challenges posed by the movements had been gaining momentum in the state. The dictatorships preceding democracy had years prior, but the Gwangju Democratic Uprising outright censored cultural and artistic expression launched a series of events that ultimately led to the to eliminate opposition against the state, but even ousting of General Chun Doo-hwan and the election under democratic governance, South Korean artists of President Roh Tae-woo. Although art inspired by regularly face both explicit and implicit censorship. democracy had been developing before 5.18, the Various Minjung artists have pushed for political Gwangju Democratic Uprising symbolized the true change even with the threat of suppression and arrest start of what became known as Minjung art. Minjung by the state from the 1980s and even today. While stands for “the people,” appropriately attributing Minjung art has largely faded out of mainstream Minjung art as the people’s art meant for everyone Korean culture, the sacrifices and accomplishments 1 See Putnam (2000) for a further exploration of the intersection between civil society and democracy. 2 See Armstrong (2002) for more information about how South Korean civil society is one of the most dramatic cases of civil society pushing for regime change. THE GW UNDERGRADUATE REVIEW • VOLUME 4 42 of the art movement still remain relevant. understand the history of cultural suppression and the The successive administrations following Roh Tae- events leading up to the Gwangju Democratic Uprising, woo’s still maintained legislation and policies that enable media including books, theses, and first-person accounts artistic suppression, creating a hypocritical actor that of the events were analyzed. These analyses formed advocates for favorable art in the opinion of the state a qualitative method that looked to find the complex while censoring any criticism against itself. The struggle relationship between the South Korean state and artists. for democracy in the 1980s created a means for political In looking at secondary data sources, the political change; however, the recent censorship of political art positionalities of sources were taken into account. has symbolized a lasting struggle within democracy for Accounting for political positionalities is important as democratic principles such as the freedom of expression certain South Korean media outlets publish content with and the right to criticize the state. Despite South progressive or conservative values that could impact Korea’s transition to democracy and push for cultural the way Minjung artists and the state are perceived. In development with Korean popular culture spreading order to not involve personal political affiliation with any across the world, Korean artists face censorship in conclusions made, sources were triangulated to back any home territory. This suggests a continuation of cultural substantive claims made throughout the paper. In the censorship from South Korea’s period of authoritarianism process of finding the answers to the questions of ‘Why? that has lasted even in a modern democratic state. And what?’ to understand the motives, experiences, This paper first provides historical context of and perceptions of the various actors involved, it was the Gwangju Democratic Uprising to understand the important to minimize biases toward any event. conditions that made way for Minjung art to enter South The limitations to this research include the lack of Korean mainstream society. The historical context is opportunity to conduct in-person research and review split into the background of the Democratic Uprising sources in Korean. Due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, and background of the Minjung art movement. Although planned visits to the city of Gwangju were cancelled, other Minjung groups and individual artists do exist, I eliminating the opportunity to review Minjung art and focus on the Gwangju Liberal Arts Association to draw artists in person. To make up for this lack of in-person a direct parallel between censorship during the Uprising research, art pieces were reviewed from online pictures and modern censorship with the same artists remaining and videos. Additionally, unfamiliarity in academic Korean suppressed by the state today. Then, a comparative limited my ability to research on Korean databases. examination of cultural censorship during South Korea’s Instead, news articles and reviews written in Korean authoritarian period and democracy follows in order to were used to identify Korean perspectives on Minjung identify the subtle similarities in policies and attitudes art, including statements from the artists themselves. toward cultural expression in South Korea. I will argue that Many academic papers in Korean were also translated despite South Korea’s exportation and encouragement of into English, so those sources are cited instead of the arts and culture, the state remains deeply hypocritical original Korean. and manipulative to limit the autonomy of artists with Methods to determine collective and personal both implicit and explicit censorship. In spite of the experiences of state actors and of the Minjung artists political change that South Korea underwent to become included analyzing previous interviews, quotes, and a democracy in the late 1980s, there are elements of government documents conducted by other researchers the state that remain undemocratic in nature. These and studies. These methods assisted me in answering my elements include state institutions that are accomplices research questions and uncovering the close relationship to cultural censorship, secret blacklists and whitelists between art and politics during the birth and development of artists, and explicit censorship of certain works that of South Korea’s democracy. offend the state. The preservation of undemocratic state elements contradicts both my definition of democracy LITERATURE REVIEW and the South Korean claim to democracy. Although the The end of South Korean dictatorship brought promise popularity of Minjung art has now diminished, the values for democracy, yet undemocratic practices such as of the movement will remain relevant as long as there are censorship continue well into the present day. This lack democratic agendas that citizens are willing to fight for of change regarding the arts is ironic when considering just as they did in 1980. the Minjung art movement arose from demands for the METHODOLOGY authoritarian government to better represent the South Korean people. To understand the roots of Minjung art The research methods employed in this study

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