UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Historicizing the Discourse on Pro-Japanese Collaborators in Contemporary Korean History from the Late 1970s to the Late 2000s Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8611g873 Author Song, Yeun-Jee Publication Date 2013 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Historicizing the Discourse on Pro-Japanese Collaborators in Contemporary Korean History from the Late 1970s to the Late 2000s A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Asian Languages and Cultures By Yeun-Jee Song 2013 © Copyright by Yeun-Jee Song 2013 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Historicizing the Discourse on Pro-Japanese Collaborators in Contemporary Korean History from the Late 1970s to the Late 2000s By Yeun-Jee Song Doctor of Philosophy in Asian Languages and Cultures University of California, Los Angeles, 2013 Professor John Duncan My dissertation aims at historicizing the formation, spread, and institutionalization of the discourse on pro-Japanese collaborators (ch’inilp’a discourse) in contemporary South Korean society from the late 1970s to the late 2000s. The ch’inilp’a discourse is a unique historical narrative that claims to resolve the issue of unpunished pro-Japanese collaborators—who were not punished right after Korea’s liberation from Japan—in the present. This discourse attributes all post-1945 political mishaps to the failure to punish collaborators immediately after liberation. Located at the interlocking position of calling for dealing with the unsolved task of decolonization and democratic progress, the ch’inilp’a discourse reflects a victimized postcolonial historical consciousness of Korean progressives and functions as progressives’ ii powerful political rhetoric against political conservatives after the demise of radical socio- political reform movement in the early 1990s. Closely looking at media coverage and intellectual writings on pro-Japanese collaboration issue, this dissertation examines how specific socio-political culture and events interactively worked together to form, disperse, and popularize this discourse, after bringing this once-taboo subject back into society in the 1980s to the biggest polemical issue in politics and civil society by the 2000s. Furthermore, the rise of the movement for resettling the ch’inilp’a issue (Ch’inilp’a ch’ŏngsan movement), in association with memorial project disputes, drastically reshaped public memory of powerful post-1945 elites as well as 20th century Korean history. The inarguable political victory of the discourse—successfully transforming itself from a marginalized historical narrative to a state-sanctioned one—was greatly indebted to its reproduction and mobilization of historical trauma from Japanese colonialism and unhealed memory in postcolonial Korea. The birth of the ch’inilp’a discourse is closely tied to the strong postcolonial historical consciousness of progressives, encapsulated with a phrase “liberated, but in fact not,” and associated with the absence of a “proper” decolonization process, continuing foreign influence, and frustrated democratization process up until the 1980s. However, the social phenomenon of ch’inilp’a at turn-of-the-21st-century Korea has taken place at the intersection of the rise of a new form of anti-foreign nationalism and desire for further democratic progress among the public after Korea’s democratization in 1987. iii The dissertation of Yeun-Jee Song is approved. Namhee Lee R. Bin Wong John Duncan, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2013 iv To My Late Father and Mother Who are a source of inspiration for my graduate study, but passed away before my completion. v Table of Contents Introduction --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Chapter I Prologue: Forming the Stage for Ch’inilp’a Discourse -----------------------------------10 1. The Failed Beginning of South Korea? ----------------------------------------------------- 10 2. A Brief Fissure in 1961 in the Middle of a Long Silence --------------------------------- 22 3. In the Era of Revolution in the 1980s ------------------------------------------------------- 25 Chapter II The Emergence of Ch’inilp’a Discourse in the Late 1980s and 1990s -------------- 32 1. The Democratic Transformation of Korean Society as a Background of the Emergence of Ch’inilp’a Discourse ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 33 2. The Genealogy, Spread, and Logic of Ch’inilp’a Discourse ----------------------------- 46 3. Contextualizing Ch’inilp’a Discourse in the Post-Democratization Process from the Late 1980s to the Early 2000s ----------------------------------------------------------------- 66 Chapter III Ch’inilp’a ch’ŏngsan as a Political Project in the 2000s ------------------------------ 82 1. Background of the Politicization and Institutionalization of the Ch’inilp’a Issue in Society -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 83 2. The Struggle for Legislation of the Ch’inilp’a Issue ------------------------------------- 105 3. The Ch’inil ch’ŏngsan Movement of the Institute for Research in Collaborationist Activities ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 126 Chapter IV Local Memory Politics and Ch’inilp’a ch’ŏngsan Movement ----------------------- 151 1. The Debates on the Memorization of Yi Ŭnsang and Cho Tuman in Masan ---------- 153 vi 2. The Controversy over the Removal of the Non’gae Portrait in Jinju ------------------ 169 3. The Controversy over the Memorial Projects of Yu Ch’ihwan in Tongyeong -------- 178 Chapter V The Discourse and Counter-Discourse of Ch’inilp’a ch’ŏngsan: Academic Debates on the Feasibility of Resettling the Collaboration Issue and History Textbook Debate ---------188 1. Feasibility versus Infeasibility: Academic Discussion on Ch’inilp’a ch’ŏngsan------ 189 2. History Textbook Controversy: What Should be the Next Historical Narrative for Future Generation -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 206 Epilogue -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 226 Bibliography------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 236 vii List of Tables Table 1. Local Ch’inilp’a ch’ŏngsan Movement Cases pp. 140-144 Table 2. Career of IRCA Members regarding Civic Movement pp. 147-148 viii Abbreviations ADIMM 순국선열유족회 (Sun’guk sŏnyŏl yujokhoe) Association of the Descendants of the Independence Movement Martyrs ADMMIM 독립유공자유족협의회(Tongnip yugongja yujok hyŏphoe) Association of the Descendants of Men of Merit of the Independence Movement AMFMC 삼일동지회 (Samil tongjihoe) Association of March First Movement’s Comrades APWV 태평양전쟁희생자유족회 (T’aep’yŏngyang chŏnjaeng hŭisaengja yujokhoe) Association for the Pacific War Victims AWNLC 민족문화작가회의협의회 (Minjok munhak chakka hoeŭi hyŏbŭihoe) Association of Writers for National Literature Council CCDM 민주언론을 위한 시민연대 (Minju ŏllon ŭl wihan simin yŏndae) Citizen’s Coaltion for Democratic Media CCEJ 경실련 (Kyŏngsillyŏn) Citizen’s Coalition for Economic Justice CCK 한국기독교총연합 (Han’guk Kidokkyo ch’ongyŏnhap) The Christian Council of Korea CSON 시민사회단체연대회의 (Simin sahoe tanch’e yŏndae hoeŭi) Civil Society Organizations Network in Korea CSPU 평화통일시민연대 (P’yŏnghwa t’ongil simin yŏndae) Citizens’ Solidarity for Peace & Unification CPAJ 천주교정의구현사제단 (Ch’ŏnjugyo chŏngŭi kuhyŏn sajedan) Catholic Priests’ Association for Justice FKTU 한국노총 (Han’guk noch’ong) Federation of Korean Trade Unions FKU 녹색연대 (Noksaek yŏnhap) Green Korea United JCMH 독도수호와 일본의 유엔안보리 상임이사국 진출 저지를 위한 진주운동본부( Dokdo suho wa Ilbon ŭi UN anbori sangim isaguk chinch’ul chŏji rŭl wihan Jinju undong ponbu) Jinju Citizen’s Movement Headquarters for Protecting Dokdo Islets and Preventing Japan’s Bid for a Permanent Seat in the UN Security Council ix KCTU 민주노총 (Minju noch’ong) Korean Confederation of Trade Unions KCWDMSSJ 정신대대책협의회 (Han’guk chŏngsindae taech’aek hyŏbŭihoe or Chŏngdaehyŏp) The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan KDF 민주화운동기념사업회 (Minjuhwa undong kinyŏm saŏphoe) Korean Democracy Foundation KFEM 환경연합 (Hwangyŏng yŏnhap) Korean Federation for Environmental Movement KLA 광복회 (Kwangbokhoe) Korea Liberation Association KPAF 민족예술인총연합 /한국민예총 (Minjok yesullin ch’ongyŏnhap) Korean Peoples Artist Fedcraction KSVC 전국노점상연합 (Han’guk nojŏmsang yŏnhap) Korean Street Vendors Confederation KTU 전교조 (Chŏn’gyojo) Korean Teachers & Education Workers’ Union LDS 민주화를 위한 변호사의 모임 (Minjuhwa rŭl wihan pyŏnhosa ŭi moim) Lawyers for a Democratic Society MCMFM 삼일운동기념사업회 (Samil undong kinyŏm saŏphoe) Meeting for Commemorating the March First Movement M P VA 보훈처 (Pohunch’ŏ) Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs NDC 민주단체협의회 (Minju tanch’e hyŏbŭihoe) National Democratic Council NFMND 전국민족민주운동연합/전민련 (Chŏn’guk minjok minju undong yŏnhap) National Federation for the Movement of Nation and Democracy NGEU 전국공무원노동조합 (Chŏn’guk kongmuwŏn nodong chohap) National Government Employees’ Union NNC 반핵반김국민협의회 (Pan-haek pan-Kim kungmin hyŏbŭihoe) People’s Anti-Nuclear and Anti-Kim Jong Il Alliance, its official English title is Nonuclear.co.kr x PKAR 조국통일범민족연합 /범민련 (Choguk t’ongil pŏm-minjok yŏnhap) Pan-Korean Alliance for Reunification PSPD 참여연대 (Ch’amyŏ