[KS] The rhetoric of chunghung

[johnfrankl at yahoo.com]

Dear Jiyul and List Members,
   
  I always find these discussions fascinating. This series of questions leads me to yet another: 
   
  If Park and certain of his associates were aware of this term's historical resonances, who was his/their intended audience? IOW, was it aimed only at elites with substantial literary/historical knowledge? If not, if it was for mass consumption, could Park possibly have thought that the common people would be aware of the term's history and connotations?
   
  Sorry to be of no help regarding the original post,
   
  John Frankl

Jiyul Kim <jiyulkim at fas.harvard.edu> wrote:
  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



		
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