[KS] The rhetoric of chunghung

[Jiyul Kim]

I want to thank Profs. Ledyard and Robinson for their comments - they 
have been most helpful and illuminating. John Frankl's questions alerted 
me to an obviously important dimension to the issue. And I thank Cedar 
Bough Saeji's suggestions on further exploring culture policies of the 
1970s.

Jiyul Kim

Jiyul Kim 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
>