UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ BORDERS OF BELONGING: NATIONALISM, NORTH KOREAN DEFECTORS, AND THE SPIRITUAL PROJECT FOR A UNIFIED KOREA A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in ANTHROPOLOGY by Sarah Eunkyung Chee December 2015 The Dissertation of Sarah Eunkyung Chee is approved: ____________________________________ Professor Melissa L. Caldwell, Chair ____________________________________ Professor Donald L. Brenneis ____________________________________ Professor Carolyn Martin-Shaw ____________________________________ Professor Timothy Tangherlini ____________________________________ Tyrus Miller Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Table of Contents ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................... VI ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................. VIII CHAPTER 1. BORDERS OF BELONGING ...................................................................... 1 HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF NORTH AND SOUTH KOREA ........................................................... 6 KOREA INTERRUPTED: A LONGING FOR UNIFICATION ........................................................... 11 THE LONG PATH TO SOUTH KOREA AND DEFECTOR AID ...................................................... 18 HISTORY OF PROTESTANT AID TO DEFECTORS ....................................................................... 26 WHAT’S IN A NAME? THE HISTORY OF CATEGORIZATION OF NORTH KOREANS .............. 30 DOMESTICATION AND BELONGING ............................................................................................. 39 RECUPERATING THE NATION: DEFECTORS, CHRISTIANITY, AND UNIFICATION POLITICS ...................................................................................................................................................... 47 RESEARCH SUMMARY: THE ROAD TO NORTH KOREAN DEFECTORS ................................... 49 CHAPTER SUMMARIES ................................................................................................................... 54 CHAPTER 2. THE PROMISE OF THE UNCANNY STRANGER: THE UNITED STATES AND NORTH KOREA ...................................................................................... 58 THE CONSTRUCTION OF NORTH KOREA AS THE ENEMY AND THE U.S. AS “BIG BROTHER” ...................................................................................................................................................... 61 The National Security Law .................................................................................................... 65 Living with Communism: Communism as a Disease .................................................. 68 A CRISIS OF SOUTH KOREAN IDENTITY ..................................................................................... 70 English as a New South Korean Identity ......................................................................... 74 Crisis of Korean “Culture”: The Backlash against the U.S. and Development . 78 DOMESTICATING THE UNCANNY: NAMNAMPUKNYŎ .............................................................. 88 The Uncanny Enemy or Long-Lost Family? ................................................................... 98 ROOTED COSMOPOLITANS ........................................................................................................ 103 CHAPTER 3. UNIFICATION AND THE CHARISMATIC GIFT: PROTESTANT AID TO NORTH KOREAN DEFECTORS ............................................................................ 107 FROM MARGINS TO THE CENTER: SITUATING PEACE CHURCH ......................................... 109 GIFTS TO NORTH KOREANS ...................................................................................................... 112 THE GIFT IN SOUTH KOREA ...................................................................................................... 118 PROSPERITY GOSPEL AND THE CHARISMATIC GIFT ............................................................ 121 THE PROMISE OF CHRISTIANITY .............................................................................................. 126 THE NORTH KOREAN MISSION PROJECT: TEACHING TO GIVE .......................................... 136 iii THE RETURN GIFT: BECOMING DOMESTICATED .................................................................. 143 RECIPROCATION OF THE GIFT BY DEFECTORS ...................................................................... 149 THE GIFT OF NON-DOMESTICATION ....................................................................................... 151 THE PROMISE FULFILLED? ....................................................................................................... 152 CHAPTER 4. SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN: TAMING THE FOREIGN THROUGH GOD'S LOVE .............................................................................................. 155 NORTH KOREANS WITHOUT TRUE FAMILY ........................................................................... 159 THE FAMILY IN SOUTH KOREA ................................................................................................. 162 Hoju Family Registry System ............................................................................................. 163 Christianity as a Solution to the Immoral Korean Family .................................... 167 Children without Lineages ................................................................................................. 170 Special Children with Special Needs .............................................................................. 172 DEFECTOR ORPHANS AND THE REPLACEMENT FAMILY OF CHURCH ............................... 178 THE NORTH KOREAN FAMILY .................................................................................................. 183 NORTH KOREAN DEFIANCE AGAINST THE FAMILY OF GOD ............................................... 186 SOUTH KOREAN RESISTANCE ................................................................................................... 187 FAMILIES VERSUS FRIENDS ....................................................................................................... 190 THE NEW CHRISTIAN NATION ALREADY DIVIDED? ............................................................ 193 CHAPTER 5. THE LIVES OF OTHERS: NORTH KOREANS AND THE INTIMACY OF SURVEILLANCE ....................................................................................................... 197 SURVEILLANCE IN ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ......................................................... 199 STATE SURVEILLANCE OR PROTECTION? ............................................................................... 201 The NIS and Normalized Surveillance ........................................................................... 207 The Protection of Defectors ............................................................................................... 213 THE THREAT OF IMMORAL DEFECTORS ................................................................................. 215 POLITICAL SURVEILLANCE ........................................................................................................ 217 EVERYDAY VISIBILITY ................................................................................................................ 222 RESIDENT NUMBERS .................................................................................................................. 224 NGO SURVEILLANCE .................................................................................................................. 229 SPIES IN OUR MIDST: THE CASE OF YU WOO-SEONG ......................................................... 235 Background to Yu Woo-seong .......................................................................................... 236 Constructing a North Korean Spy ................................................................................... 239 The Aftermath .......................................................................................................................... 242 THE FUTURE OF SURVEILLANCE IN SOUTH KOREA .............................................................. 247 CHAPTER 6. CITIZENSHIP AND BELONGING IN SOUTH KOREA .................... 250 SEWOL FERRY: THE BOAT THAT OVERTURNED IDEAS OF CITIZENSHIP .......................... 254 CITIZENSHIP IN SOUTH KOREA ................................................................................................ 257 TAMUNHWA AND THE CHANGING DEMOGRAPHIC OF SOUTH KOREA .............................. 264 NAMNAMPUKNYŎ ....................................................................................................................... 268 BELONGING IN THE WEST, BELONGING IN SOUTH KOREA ................................................. 271 iv BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................. 277 v ABSTRACT Sarah Eunkyung Chee Borders of Belonging: Nationalism, North Korean Defectors, and the Spiritual Project for a Unified Korea My dissertation examines the conflicts and contradictions of national identity that emerge out of the interactions between North Korean defectors and Protestant South Korean Protestants who give them aid. Since the mid 1990s, a significant number of North Koreans have migrated to South Korea in search of food and opportunities as a result of a devastating famine. Instead of the warm welcome they