[KS] The rhetoric of chunghung
Jiyul Kim
jiyulkim at fas.harvard.edu
Wed Mar 1 17:13:45 EST 2006
Does anyone have any thought or evidence on whether the use of chunghung
(restoration/renovation/rejuvenation) during the Park Chung Hee years
was generic or deliberate in an historicized way?
I refer specifically to the evocation of the term in the slogan "minjok
chunghung" (national restoration) and the use in "munye chunghung
(culture and art renovation) 5 year plan."
I am wondering if it is possible to consider whether the use of the term
chunghung was purposefully designed to evoke its deep Chinese/Confucian
connection. Mary Wright's book on the T'ung Chih Restoration (The Last
Stand of Chinese Conservatism) provides a good chapter on the term's
significance in Chinese dynastic history. Andre Schmid's Korea Between
Empires has two mentions of the use of chunghung to refer to Kojong's
efforts with the Taehan jeguk (Kojong chunghung?). Bruce Cumings
mentioned in a manuscript review that minjok chunghung was a term that
has colonial origins (although by who and in what source I am not sure).
In an earlier brief discussion on the term "yusin" Prof. Ledyard talked
about the Chinese/Confucian roots of that term and speculated that Park
Chung Hee was very possibly aware and deliberately used the term with
that connection in mind. Vladimir Tikhonov in the same discussion
speculated that Park's educational advisor Park Chong-hong would have
known that historical significance and would have been in a position to
advise PCH and that the evocation of the term/concept embedded in
Chinese imperial ideology was "hardly accidental."
I wonder if we can make a similar inference about chunghung. Better
yet, does anyone have any evidence that can take us beyond speculation.
Jiyul Kim
Director of Asian Studies
US Army War College
More information about the Koreanstudies
mailing list