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Dear list readers,<br><br>
I should read all my e-mail instead of answering these things one at a
time. Charles is correct about my article in Hagen Koo's volume, except
that I think <i>chuch'e</i> was less a negative reaction to Japanese
usages like <i>kokutai</i>, as an appropriation of them for left-wing
nationalist purposes, which was a virtual pastime among European radical
intellectuals in the 1930s (Mosca, Pareto, Manoilescu, many others). An
organic politics and self-reliant economic nationalism is the ideal here,
but it's also where right meets left when the world economy is in a
shambles and every nation is adopting go-it-alone strategies of one sort
or another (new orders, new deals, socialism in one country).<br><br>
There is a very good book to be written someday on the degree to which
interwar Japan influenced North Korea; mostly I've just heard anecdotes
from Japanese old enough to have lived through that period who later
visited North Korea in the 70s and 80s, and found it much more
reminiscent of Japan in the 1930s-early 40s than they could ever have
imagined. The most controversial point, of course, would be to link the
<i>suryong</i> principle to the Emperor, his birthday being a national
holiday, his acolytes finding new orchids to name for him, etc.
etc.<br><br>
BC<br><br>
<br>
At 09:01 AM 2/11/2002 -0500, you wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Dear Ruediger,<br><br>
Dr. Petrov's statement is correct, but I doubt that Paek Nam-un's
speech<br>
had much to do with the formation of juche ideology in North Korea,
except<br>
by analogy -- that is, in retrospect we can see that the highly
mobilized<br>
society of post-Korean War North Korea uses a similar rhetoric to
wartime<br>
Japan. The notion of juche does have roots in early East Asian ideas
of<br>
nation-centered subjectivity. Bruce Cumings argues that juche is a kind
of<br>
negative response to Japanese kokutai ("national essence") the
rallying<br>
point of pre-war and wartime Japanese patriotism and militarism.
See<br>
Cumings' article on The Corporate State in North Korea in Hagen Koo's
book<br>
State and Society in Contemporary Korea (Cornell University Press,
1993).<br>
Shutaisei (juchesong in Korean pronunciation) and its meaning was
the<br>
subject of much philosophical discussion in 1920s Japan; see for
example<br>
Harry Harootunion and Tetsuo Najita's chapter on Overcoming Modernity
in<br>
Cambridge History of Japan, or for a more extended treatment
Harootunian's<br>
recent book Overcoming Modernity. I'm sure there are others on this
list<br>
with more expertise in Japanese intellectual history who could
discuss<br>
that subject more extensively. Best,<br><br>
Charles<br><br>
On Mon, 11 Feb 2002, Leonid Petrov wrote:<br><br>
> Dear Frank,<br>
><br>
> In April 1941, the founder of the Marxist Socio-economic school of
historiography, Paek Nam-un, gave a public lecture titled "The
Morality of Regulated Economy". One section of his lecture was
titled "T'ongje-Ui chuch'e-wa sinch'eje-Ui sOngkkyOk" [The
Subject of Control and the Nature of the New System]. There Paek argued
that Korea [uri kukch'e] must become a subject [chuch'e] of the new
Japanese economic control and therefore help the Japanese people [ilbon
kungmin] fulfill the Emperor's policy on the creation of the country's
invincible might [kUmgu mugyOl].<br>
><br>
> We can see that in this piece the word "chuch'e" was used
in its original meaning -- "subject" -- albeit a little bit
broadened by the fascism-tilting author.<br>
><br>
> This lecture was given at the Keijo Daiwa Hall, the usual venue for
"patriotic" events held in the Japanese-occupied Seoul.[1] Paek
also argued for successful creation of the Japan-Manchuria-China bloc in
East Asia as was suggested by the "Eight Corners under One
Roof" [hakko ichiu] motto. He also compared the merits of Japanese
economic system (which he unequivocally called "our national
economy") with that of Germany and Italy. Paek claimed that, from
the moral point of view, the Japanese economic model, based on the
Imperial system, was far more advanced than those implemented by some
"prominent leaders" in Europe.[2] Despite the timid criticism
of over-regulation and rising prices, Paek called upon his countrymen to
mobilize all national resources and prepare themselves for the extremes
of wartime economy.<br>
><br>
>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
><br>
> [1] Paek Nam-un, 'Tosei Keizai-no Rinrisei' [The Morality of
Regulated Economy], Toyo-no Hikari, (June 1942), No. 4-6.<br>
><br>
> [2] Paek Nam-un, 'T'ongje KyOngje-Ui YullisOng' [The Morality of
Regulated Economy], Ha Il-sik, trans., Hwip'yOn. Paek Nam-un ChOnjip 4.,
Seoul: Iron-gwa Silch'On, 1991, pp.282-284.<br>
><br>
> With best regards,<br>
><br>
> LEONID A. PETROV<br>
> Division of Pacific and Asian History<br>
> Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies<br>
> The Australian National University<br>
> ****************************************<br>
> Mob: +61-403076604<br>
> Tel: +61(2) 6125 3172 (office)<br>
> Fax: +61(2) 6125 5525 (office)<br>
> E-mail: petrov@coombs.anu.edu.au<br>
> WWW:
<a href="http://north-korea.narod.ru/" eudora="autourl">http://north-korea.narod.ru</a><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> ----- Original Message -----<br>
> From: "Ruediger Frank"
<rfrank@eplus-online.de><br>
> To: <Koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws><br>
> Sent: Friday, February 08, 2002 8:03 PM<br>
> Subject: [KS] Chuch'e<br>
><br>
><br>
> > Dear list,<br>
> ><br>
> > I am currently writing an article on the political system of
North Korea<br>
> > for a German university textbook. Needless to say that in the
course of<br>
> > this work I have to deal with the term Chuch'e.<br>
> ><br>
> > As far as I remember having heard, a philosophical term called
Shutaisei<br>
> > (Chuch'esOng) has already been used by the Japanese in the
1920s, long<br>
> > before Kim Il-sOng introduced Chuch'e in his speech to the
propagandists of<br>
> > the Nodongdang on December 28, 1955. Is that correct? And if
yes, in which<br>
> > context has it been used before?<br>
> ><br>
> > Thanks a lot for your help.<br>
> ><br>
> > Best regards,<br>
> ><br>
> > Ruediger Frank<br>
> > ***********************<br>
> > Ruediger FRANK<br>
> > Humboldt-University Berlin<br>
> > Korea Institute<br>
> > Fon: +49-30-55 99 878<br>
> > Fax: +49-30-2093-6666<br>
> > e-mail: ruediger.frank@rz.hu-berlin.de<br>
> > Web:
<a href="http://www2.hu-berlin.de/korea" eudora="autourl">http://www2.hu-berlin.de/korea</a><br>
> > ***********************<br>
> ><br>
> ><br>
> ><br>
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