[KS] Koreanstudies Digest, Vol 99, Issue 23

Mon Sep 12 19:28:27 EDT 2011

Dear Bruce,

I certainly agree with the observation that both the direct involvement of northern Christians in the anti-Communist purges carried out during the South Korean occupation of the North and the impact of U.S. carpet bombing (combined with the Christian elements of Syngman Rhee's anti-Communist rhetorics) played very important roles in that the regime, as you put it, decided to extirpate Christianity during and after the war. Still, one might go one step further. As I mentioned in an earlier post that hasn't reached the list, the North Vietnamese authorities never sought to expel the Catholic community or near-completely deprive it of its clergy, though their relations were hostile at least from 1947 on, resulting in mutual massacres during the Franco-Viet Minh War (not least because the Catholics were perceived as pro-French collaborators). Thus I am inclined to think that the North Korean policy to eliminate the churches had much in common with
 the post-1952 mistreatment of South Korean Communist refugees. As late as the mid-1960s, southerners were still regarded as unreliable, and, if the declassified CIA reports are to be believed, the participants of the 1967-68 commando operations were mostly northerners, rather than southerners (which stood in a sharp contrast with the return of southern guerrillas to the RVN after 1959). That is, both policies may have reflected a feeling that unification based on mass support from the South might no longer be possible in the near future, and thus any "heterodox" communities in the North might be more a liability than a bridge to reach out to the South. 

A parallel might be drawn with Soviet policies under Stalin in that respect that certain divided ethnic minorities, such as the Poles, Kurds and Buryats, were treated quite well in periods when the government hoped that their counterparts in Poland, Iran, etc., might be won over to the Soviet cause, but in periods when the USSR did not want to, or could not, reach out to the minorities of its neighbors, Stalin felt inclined to forcibly isolate and repress his own minorities, lest the neighboring state play out the same card against him.      

All the best,
Balazs Szalontai

--- On Mon, 12/9/11, Bruce Cumings <rufus88 at uchicago.edu> wrote:

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>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

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:

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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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