[KS] Koreanstudies Digest, Vol 99, Issue 23

Bruce Cumings rufus88 at uchicago.edu
Mon Sep 12 13:24:03 EDT 2011


Regarding one of Frank Hoffman's comments about religion in North  
Korea--really a point of method--he wrote that

"If you read studies about e.g. the history of publications, arts, and/ 
or censorship -- AND I MEAN NEW studies, not the old cold war works  
from before the 1990s (because those exclude the U.S. propaganda war  
tactics, which are an important part of the picture) --
then you will see that there are very strong parallels between Soviet  
politics in Europe and politics in North Korea (in the period 1945 to  
1949)."

I may be misreading this, but for two decades some scholars have  
assumed that we did not really know anything about North Korea until  
post-Berlin Wall communist documents became available. In fact since  
1977 we have had one of the very best archival collections on any  
communist country sitting in Washington, Record Group 242, which I  
mentioned a few days ago. This is an even rarer archive, because it  
was not vetted or declassified by the state concerned (as all national  
archives are), but rather by U.S. intelligence authorities--and then  
very weakly, because so few could read Korean.

A scholar could write a book on religion in the North, 1945-50, just  
using these voluminous materials. I remember opening one box, and  
finding dozens of scrolls written by Buddhist monks trying to console  
Kim Il Sung on the drowning death of his son. I also recall materials  
on the Elmer Gantry-like hijinks of Rev. Moon Sun Myung and his  
"Israel Church" in 1947-48. But there was much, much more.

The real question is what caused the regime to extirpate Christianity  
during and after the Korean War. Don Clark provides part of the  
answer,  as did Richard Kim in The Martyred. Curiously, though, no one  
refers to the harrowing account in Hwang  Sok-young's The Guest, of  
Christians massacring alleged communists in the North by the  
thousands, including mothers and their children. And then there was  
the response I got when I inquired about the absence of Christian  
churches on my first visit to Pyongyang in 1981: "We thought that a  
Christian nation that could bomb us so mercilessly for three years,  
must follow a false God."

Perhaps we need another novel, one about Americans in Korea since 1945  
titled "The Innocent."

Bruce Cumings
University of Chicago


On Sep 12, 2011, at 12:00 PM, koreanstudies-request at koreaweb.ws wrote:

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> <<------------ KoreanStudies mailing list DIGEST ------------>>
>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
>   1. "theatrical performances" in the DPRK (Jim Thomas)
>   2. Korean Literature Position (Sarah Frederick)
>   3. Re: Koreanstudies Digest, Vol 99, Issue 21 (Donald Clark)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 11 Sep 2011 09:05:44 -0700
> From: Jim Thomas <jimpthomas at hotmail.com>
> To: Korean Studies Discussion List <koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>
> Subject: [KS] "theatrical performances" in the DPRK
> Message-ID: <BLU165-W53BBC8B787D88039118F2BDD030 at phx.gbl>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
>
> Greetings! And Happy Chusok!
>
>> Nobody believes [the two Christian Churches in Pyongyang] exist for  
>> anything other than show. Defectors (I realize not everyone  
>> believes what they say) say the people we see at those churches are  
>> basically actors placed there for our benefit.
>                                           --Don Kirk
>
>> I took part in Sunday services in two of these churches and did not  
>> have the impression that these services were a theatrical
> production for foreign tourists...
>                                          --Eckart Dege
>
> Accepting that, to many, Christian church services in the DPRK may  
> at least seem like theatrical performances--and putting aside for  
> the moment who they are aimed at--I would ask if these are  
> fundamentally different from other theatrical performances in the  
> North, such as those that one sees on tours of DPRK classrooms or in  
> restaurants with karaoke?
>
> In other words, is it possible that "theatrical performance" is an  
> inherent part of the DPRK culture (as we see in Mass Game practice  
> sessions, Worker's Party meetings, Kim Jong Il's public appearances,  
> tours of Kim Il Sung's glass tomb, and seemingly almost every public  
> event in the DPRK)? And this must be distinguised from  
> "performances"  that fundamentally serve to cover up (e.g.  
> repression or lack of religious belief)?
> best,
> jim
>  		 	   		
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Sun, 11 Sep 2011 16:19:29 -0400
> From: Sarah Frederick <sfred at bu.edu>
> To: koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws
> Subject: [KS] Korean Literature Position
> Message-ID: <5C28A822-8310-4C8D-B899-7FB5F3C8489E at bu.edu>
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> I would like to post the following advertisement for a position in  
> Korean literature. Any who applied to our search last year are  
> warmly welcomed to re-apply.
>
> Thank you,
> Sarah Frederick
>
> ---
>
> Boston University
> Assistant Professor,Korean Literature
>
> Boston University invites applications for a tenure-track position  
> in Korean Literature at the Assistant Professor rank, to begin in  
> Fall 2012 (pending budgetary approval). Area of specialization  
> within Korean literature is open. Familiarity with the debates and  
> approaches of comparative literature is desirable, and candidates  
> with scholarly expertise in film studies are also encouraged to  
> apply. The PhD is required at the time of appointment, as is native  
> or near-native fluency in Korean and English.  At Boston University,  
> the successful applicant will join a vibrant faculty community in  
> East Asian literature, comparative literature, and interdisciplinary  
> Asian Studies. She or he will be expected to build on a well- 
> established Korean language program to develop a curriculum in  
> Korean literature. There will also be opportunities to teach courses  
> in comparative literature, interdisciplinary Korean studies, or film  
> studies; teaching load is two courses per semester. A robust res!
> !
> earch and publication agenda is essential. Salary competitive and  
> commensurate with experience. Cover letter, curriculum vitae, and  
> three confidential letters of recommendation should be submitted  
> electronically to Ms. Rebecca Jackson, jacksonr at bu.edu; preference  
> will be given to applications received by October 1, 2011.  
> Additional materials will be requested later from certain  
> applicants. Any recommendations that cannot be sent electronically  
> may be mailed to Ms. Rebecca Jackson, Department of Modern Languages  
> and Comparative Literature, 718 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA  
> 02215. Boston University is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity  
> Employer.  www.bu.edu/mlcl; www.bu.edu/asian
>
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Sun, 11 Sep 2011 17:34:05 -0500
> From: Donald Clark <dclark at trinity.edu>
> To: "<koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>" <koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>
> Subject: Re: [KS] Koreanstudies Digest, Vol 99, Issue 21
> Message-ID: <4867866722761278328 at unknownmsgid>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> My experience attending the Chilgol church several times over the
> years is that it is typically Protestant, not Orthodox, that the
> people attending are perhaps a few of what might be termed a
> "congregation," and the minister appears to have a steady appointment
> as the person in charge, albeit with no badge. The choir and music are
> traditional and would be familiar in South Korea; however, the hymnal
> is South Korean, a gift I imagine.  The order of service is likewise
> normal--nobody has to leave after 15 minutes, unless maybe they're
> literally on a tour and their minders are trying to keep them on
> schedule.
>     There's not much in my limited experience to suggest freedom
> of religious expression in the DPRK. The Chilgol church, built as a
> nod to the story that KIS's mother was a deaconess in a church in the
> same neighborhood, is a state enterprise under the Kidokkyodo
> yonmaeng, or Christian League, once directed by Kang Yang'uk, as has
> been stated.
>     Korean Christians whom I've interviewed (and Korean relatives in
> my family) who originated in North Korea, tell of tolerance for
> Christian churches before 1950, though of course they couldn't
> organize anything political and as one Korean uncle told it, a
> professing Christian would never hold a government job or be something
> like a teacher. Beyond that, fending for themselves on the margins
> they could at least survive.
>     This ended when the Christians of Pyongyang rose to welcome RoK
> and UN forces in October 1950, when the exiled Sinuiju pastor Han
> Kyongjik and assorted American missionaries held a triumphal service
> in the big Changdaehyon  Church on the text "Arise, shine for thy
> light is come!" When the KPA and Chinese returned some weeks later,
> the remnants of Pyongyang's famous Christian community survived only
> by running for their lives to the South.
>     Versions of this story are well known to list members. And of
> course there's Richard Kim's novel "The Martyred."
> Don Clark
>
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Sep 11, 2011, at 11:01 AM, <koreanstudies-request at koreaweb.ws>  
> wrote:
>
>> Send Koreanstudies mailing list submissions to
>>   koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws
>>
>> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
>>   http://koreaweb.ws/mailman/listinfo/koreanstudies_koreaweb.ws
>> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
>>   koreanstudies-request at koreaweb.ws
>>
>> You can reach the person managing the list at
>>   koreanstudies-owner at koreaweb.ws
>>
>> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
>> than "Re: Contents of Koreanstudies digest..."
>>
>>
>> <<------------ KoreanStudies mailing list DIGEST ------------>>
>>
>>
>> Today's Topics:
>>
>>  1. Koreanstudies Digest, Vol 99, Issue 7 (Frank Hoffmann)
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 1
>> Date: Sun, 11 Sep 2011 04:02:04 -0700
>> From: Frank Hoffmann <hoffmann at koreaweb.ws>
>> To: Korean Studies Discussion List <koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>
>> Subject: [KS] Koreanstudies Digest, Vol 99, Issue 7
>> Message-ID: <p06240601ca9226418118@[192.168.1.218]>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"; Format="flowed"
>>
>> Fine. Thank you, for that info -- both very interesting.
>>
>> Churches: So there are now four churches. To
>> summarize, and to correct my earlier note:
>>
>> (1) Pongsu kyohoe P'y?ngyang (Protestant Church P'y?ngyang), build  
>> 1988
>> (2) Changch'ung s?ngdang (Changch'ung Roman Catholic Cathedral),  
>> build 1988
>> (3) Ch'ilgol kyohoe (Ch'ilgol Eastern Orthodox Church), build 1989
>> (4) Life-Giving Trinity church (a Russian
>> Orthodox church), opened August 13, 2006
>>
>> Should we not try to put things into a historical
>> perspective? Please think of other dictatorships
>> in history, the Nazi regime or Stalin's Soviet
>> Union. There were also churches, there were also
>> organizations that seemed independent from the
>> state (keyword Benedictine order). But even in
>> those dictatorships there was more religious
>> freedom than in North Korea -- no, do you really
>> doubt that? Maybe not such a good comparison as
>> Balazs Szalontai already pointed out in his very
>> educational Buddhism/Mongolia/NK reply. But there
>> are no Buddhists or 'shamans' allowed either.
>> Just think of the role that the culture of
>> Buddhist lower level strata of society (minjung)
>> or 'shaman' culture, or Christian beliefs
>> (modelled after South America) played for the
>> 1980s nativist Minjung cultural movement in South
>> Korea. In North Korea you ONLY see the modernized
>> socialist version of HIGH culture, of court
>> culture, yangban culture of the past, mixed with
>> strong influences from Soviet and Chinese
>> socialist culture. Lower culture has not be
>> incorporated and modernized. I mean, there is
>> neither any sort of role of native believe
>> systems like shamanism or Buddhism nor of the
>> newer Christian religions. Religion has no role
>> in North Korea, and if you look at specific
>> culture--e.g. the fine arts or literature--you
>> can very clearly see that. The Kim cults are an
>> replacement for this. Religious believe systems
>> would offer an alternative, would get to the root
>> of the "people's" needs and desires, would offer
>> alternative 'paradises' and of course, and such
>> parallel worlds would weaken the Kim cults, the
>> Kim system. There is a reason why a country like
>> Cuba was the favorite place for tourists in
>> eastern Europe before 1990, and why today it is
>> one of the top locations for West European
>> tourists also--and why it is not a place like
>> North Korea. Strolling down Cuba Tac?n towards
>> the Castillo in Havana today, you will see plenty
>> of Picasso's "Guernicas" in all possible formats,
>> materials, colors and interpretations, even on
>> busses or as murals, serious ones and rather
>> playful interpretations, state commissioned ones
>> and private works, and of course also abstract
>> paintings for sale and sometimes works in montage
>> or pseudo-montage techniques and prints that may
>> be called communist versions of Pop Art by local
>> Cuban artists. You will see private sales shops,
>> artists studios, pretty girls with micro-mini
>> skirts, churches, etc. Now, please, stroll down
>> T'ongil Street in P'y?ngyang to visit that new
>> Russian Orthodox church (or whatever other
>> destination). What will you see on your way?
>>
>> Below is what others observed about the churches,
>> and I find that very telling as regards to the
>> issue of "theatrical production." (Of course,
>> yes, one has to be careful with any such
>> 'sources'--but I just find it hard to find an
>> alternative interpretation that in the end tells
>> me there is anything undecided, liberal, or
>> complicated.)
>>
>>
>> (3) Ch'ilgol kyohoe:
>>
>>>> We arrived around 10, there were 50 believers
>>>> in the church, singing and praying. Then after
>>>> 15 minutes, they invited us to leave the place.
>>>> (...)
>> North Korea already has a Catholic church, which
>> for many seem to be 'showcases' built for the
>> visits of foreigners since they do not offer
>> regular liturgical service.<< (Eric Lafforgue)
>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/mytripsmypics/2609230523/
>>
>>
>> (4) Russian Orthodox church:
>>
>>>> (...) quoted Ho Il Jin, chairman of the Korean
>>>> Orthodox Church Committee as saying, "The North
>>>> Korean government will successfully manage and
>>>> operate the church." (...) Reuters news agency
>>>> gave some background on how the church came to
>>>> be built. / "... in North Korea, freedom of
>>>> religion exists only in name, and the reasoning
>>>> behind Kim's current favoring of the Orthodox
>>>> religion remains unclear. What is known is that
>>>> the dictator first came up with the idea of
>>>> building the church on trip to Russia in a 2002
>>>> during which he visited an Orthodox house of
>>>> worship. / The next year, he sent four young
>>>> men from the newly established North Korean
>>>> Orthodox Committee - all of whom had worked for
>>>> the North Korean intelligence service - for
>>>> spiritual training at the Orthodox Seminary in
>>>> Moscow. During a crash course, the men were
>>>> taught to become servants of the Church. There,
>>>> they exchanged their dark suits with Kim's
>>>> insignia for priests' robes. / Following their
>>>> visit to the seminary, the freshly baptized
>>>> Christians, who had previously known nothing
>>>> but the personal ideology of Kim Jong-Il and
>>>> his father, were sent to the far eastern
>>>> Russian city of Vladivostok for practical
>>>> experience. / Fyodor Kim, one of North Korea's
>>>> new Orthodox deacons, admitted that it had been
>>>> 'very difficult' to adopt the Orthodox
>>>> religion. But he didn't have much choice: the
>>>> 'Dear Leader' had already made the decision to
>>>> build the church. (...)
>>
>> http://www.eagleworldnews.com/2006/08/22/russian-orthodox-church-opens-in-the-north-korean-capital-of-pyongyang/
>>
>>
>> (1) Pongsu kyohoe P'y?ngyang:
>>
>> Report from a North Korean defector to the South:
>>>> "I had lived in Pyongyang from 1996 to 1998.
>>>> During that time, my cousin introduced me Mr.
>>>> Hong, a forty two-year old official in the
>>>> Foreign Ministry. (...) Hong was a graduate of
>>>> North Korea's most prestigious Mankyongdae
>>>> Revolutionary Academy and studied French at KPA
>>>> Security College. Since then, he had been
>>>> assigned as a National Security Agency liaison
>>>> officer to the Foreign Ministry. (...) In
>>>> February 1997, Hong was appointed to the Bongsu
>>>> Church. At that time, I thought the 'Church'
>>>> was a type of state-run trade company, because
>>>> Hong had been expressing his interest in
>>>> working at trade department. (...) the fellow
>>>> 'Christians' in Bongsu Church are, in reality,
>>>> sent by the North Korean government authorities
>>>> such as United Front Department of KWP and
>>>> National Security Agency. It is not probable at
>>>> all for the state-run Bongsu Church to have a
>>>> true believer, whether of Christianity or any
>>>> other kind of religion except for the Kim Il
>>>> Sung/Kim Jong Il cult."
>>
>> http://orientem.blogspot.com/2006/11/pyngyangs-potemkin-church.html
>>
>>
>>
>> Best wishes,
>> Frank Hoffmann
>>
>>
>>> Prof. Dr. Eckart Dege wrote:
>>>
>>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>>
>>> For a long time I also wondered how Chusok is observed in North  
>>> Korea.
>>> Last time I visited North Korea during Chusok. Knowing that our
>>> interpreter was the eldest son, I asked him who would do the  
>>> ancester
>>> rites on this day. He answered that his younger brother had to do  
>>> them
>>> since he was on duty translating for us. Then I asked how the  
>>> rites are
>>> performed in Pyongyang (where you don't find any graves). He  
>>> explained
>>> that all people are cremated and the urns are stored in special  
>>> buildings
>>> (one in each city precinct). On Chusok people go there, show a  
>>> special
>>> identity card and get the urn(s) of their ancestor(s). These they  
>>> take to
>>> a park, where they perform the ancestor rites and have a picnic.  
>>> After the
>>> rites they return the urn. We observed many such family groups on
>>> Moran-bong.
>>>
>>> Now to the churches: there are four in Pyongyang, the Changchung  
>>> Cathedral
>>> (Roman Catholic), the Pongsu Church (Protestant), the Chilgol Church
>>> (Protestant) and a new Russian Orthodox church at Tongil Street. I  
>>> took
>>> part in Sunday services in two of these churches and did not have  
>>> the
>>> impression that these services were a theatrical production for  
>>> foreign
>>> tourists (in both cases I was the only foreigner). What struck me  
>>> was the
>>> fact that during the service they took off their Kim Il-sung  
>>> badges. When
>>> they went out after the service they put them back on.
>>>
>>> Happy Chusok,
>>> Eckart Dege
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Prof. Dr. Eckart Dege
>>> Geographisches Institut
>>> Universit?t Kiel
>>> D-24098 Kiel / Germany
>>> Phone (home): +49 4342 889695
>>> Phone (mobile): +49 1717110654
>>
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>> End of Koreanstudies Digest, Vol 99, Issue 21
>> *********************************************
>
>
>
> End of Koreanstudies Digest, Vol 99, Issue 23
> *********************************************

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