"Minjok" - A Candlelight

'Minjok', A candlelight

 

 

 

  To quote, KMLA-ians are people who are

 

'Endowed with national pride in heart, and our fatherland's bright future in mind; Let us study not for the sake of personal gain, but for the sake of learning itself. Let us not choose a career in thoughts of personal advance, but choose a career based on talents and aptitude. Such is my true happiness, tomorrow's bright fatherland, and a better world for all.' (from 'School Motto', of 'Korean Minjok Leadership Academy')

   And one of the questions we face, in relation to our identity as a 'proud' KMLA student is : what's 'minjok? And why is it so important?

   Crudely, 'minjok(民族)' is a term that can be translated as a 'race', 'nation', 'people', 'nationality', or, an 'ethnic group'. That was according to my smart dictionary- and which means that it's a very brief, general definition- for anyone to understand easily. Still, as lots of big, important and valued virtues are 'minjok' isn't such a tangible nor easy-to-grasp thing. For it concerns a whole nation, which has been continuing its existence in a certain region for about five millennia. Then what is, 'minjok', that runs in our blood and makes Koreans more 'Korean'?
 

 

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1. Concept of 'minjok'

2. History I (From the Stone Age ~ The united Shinla)

3. History II (The Chosun Dynasty)

4. The Japanese invasion(s)

4-(1) 1592 - Sir Lee Sun-Shin

4-(2) 1910 ~ 1945 : Japanese colonization & more

5. The significance & limitations of 'minjok'

6. Globalization

  7. Conclusion : 'minjok' in 21st century

8. References

 

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1. Concept of 'minjok'
 

Koreans especially value 'minjok' as some proud and distinct virtue. And is somewhat

true, for we can widely describe the definition of 'minjok' as the group, race, nation
that shares a united culture, (history) and (mostly) a common bloodline. (To be issued again, later) Also the outstanding characteristic of the Korean nation is that it has lots of attachment to its 'minjok', that is, Koreans wherever they might live and meet. Furthermore Korea tends to feel affection its culture and society, namely 'jung(情)'. They definitely have some relation to each other, as the special love for 'minjok' would result in attached emotions to each other.

 

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2. History I (From the Stone Age ~ The united Shinla)

 

 

 Nobody really knows how the human civilization, the massive lump of culture and all started. But, one sure thing is that during some time living beings popped into existence, and so did our primitive ancestors(according to the evolution theory, which is more reliable and scientifically proven)- apes of whatever.

 

<What the heck are you looking at?

S...sorry, great-great-great-..-great grandpa>

 And isn't it nearly something of a wonder how these beings ended up into living together in groups, created artworks and built systems and buildings and formed a society physically and both mentally?

 The start of our 'minjok', nation in this case, was Dangun. According to the foundation myths of our nation, Gojosun was created by Dangun- descendant from the skies, which gives us a feeling of divinity and sacredness in our souls- which must have been intended somewhat, by its creator. Nevertheless, a strong and mysterious foundation myth groups people together under a single national pride, and this was sort of effective during the past yeats. This issue will again be mentioned afterwards, in the Japanese invasion part, as it was re-discovered and polished by historian Shin Chae-Ho.

 

<Dan-gun>

   Then it became the era of 'the three countries'- Goguryue, Shinla and Baekjae. Baekjae was, comparatively, a soft and a cultural nation than 'Goguryue'-which was supposed to be a warlike, and aggressive nation that fought against its harsh natural environments, and attacked nearby smaller nations in its pursuit for survival. Unfortunately, both countries perished as the Korean peninsula was united by Shinla and Dang(some form of China).

   Since there started our nation, 'minjok''s (apparent) misfortune; the Dang(China), ever since it helped(more than helped, actually) the unification of the Korean peninsular, started to enlarge its influence on the united Shinla. Combined with the Toadysim towards China and Chinese culture and its letters, China slowly ate up our nation and affected our 'minjok' ever since. Whether our 'minjok' knew it or not.

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3. History II (The Chosun Dynasty)

 

   In Chosun dynasty, a great contribution is made for our 'minjok'- and that is the foundation of our own, distinct language, Hangul, by king Sejong. Three cheers for king Sejong! Yay! Yay! Yay! For if it wasn't due to the countrymen-loving, king, we wouldn't have been able to unite so much under the same term 'minjok'- for our nation(and any nation as well) needs an original, own language to portray its virtues and beliefs. And even if this wasn't exactly the NO.1 popular language among scholars and those who were learned, it spread through the people of lower status, children, women and settled as the nation's language through centuries. And is now used very readily and normally in nowadays lives; but there is a definite need for people to sometimes thank king Sejong and his scholars, for developing our own language, Hangul.

 

 

<Hangul; Hoon-Min-Jung-Eum>

 

 

   For without it, our nation wouldn't have had so much the bonding we now possess, the 'jung(情), or even the united 'national pride' in possessing a beautiful, scientific language that we share. However there's one thing we should not forget to acknowledge. Look at this.

 

Quote : [ Goal of English Policy. English is only a tool, to raise Korea to the highest level. By accommodating diverse civilizations and cultures in accordance with Korean tradition. English only policy is merely a means, not an end in itself. ]

(from KMLA's EOP motto)

 

 

 

<EOP : English Only Policy>

 

   Yet there's an unsolved mystery as this article is being completed; what about 'our minjok''s language? Hangul, to say.

   If KMLA's so minjok-forward and minjok-loving, shouldnn't they teach the science or the architecture of Hangul so thoroughly as they attempt in English and even Chinese letters? Hmm, the mystery remains unsolved.

 

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4. The Japanese invasion(s)

4-(1) 1592 - Sir Lee Sun-Shin

 

There is an interesting point in our 'minjok'ness that we should really NOT forget,

and that is :

Our 'minjok', didn't possess any great 'leaders'. Rather, we had other types of heroes.

(More information exists in [Distant Countries and Neighboring Countries)]#9(Korea), Lee Won-Bok])

Instead we respect and exalt 'generals' and 'patriot heroes' as our nation's most respected ones. Now look at this piece of chart that compares 'the most respected heroes of Korea'. In 1977, high in rank(in Korean role models) was general Lee Shun-Shin.

In the right column!

And that was nearly the same in my times as well(about the 1990s), for we always wrote people like 'sir Lee Shun-Shin' and 'sister Ryu Gwan-Sun' in blanks to fill as those we respect. We were raised like that and learned to respect those particular (types) of people. Why?
(King Sejong is an exception- as mentioned above, he created Hangul and had good intentions. Still, he wasn't exactly such a 'strong' leader, right?)

Somewhat due to our nation's geographical location, we were constantly fighting against attacks from foreign rogues and pirates, especially from Japan. (The Chinese- they attacked us politically and culturally, through toadyism and more) During the 'War in the Im-Jin year'(1592) the dispute was particularly big, due to the unjust greed of the Japanese leader at that time; Doyotomi Hideyoshi. And our nation's hero, sir Lee Shun-Shin protected Chosun with brains and courage; and remain as a star in (most) Koreans' hearts.

 

 

<General Lee Shun-Shin>

 

 

<Doyotomi Hideyoshi>

 
 

 

<Japanese Invasion : 1592>

 

 

 

And definitely, by the fact that we were constantly attacked, and thereby needed 'protectors' and 'fighters' rather than good leaders- or, on the contrary, the circumstances didn't end well enough for any good leaders to exist of survive- we can catch glimpses of our 'minjok''s virtues;

patriotism, sacrifice, and loyalty.

Which are, important in society these days as well.

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4-(2) 1910 ~ 1945 : Japanese colonization, and more

  

 

The Japanese colonization period, from 1910 to 1945, was the most brutal and freedom-crushed period in our nation's history, as every member of our 'minjok' had their rights infringed and violated by the Japanese. Forced to change names and nationalities, our nation suffered in their 'mental minjok-pride' more than ever.

But one of the serious things was that the Japaense tried to erase our 'minjok'ness. In order to do so, they tried to eradicate our language, Hangul, and taught Japanese instead in schools with guns.

 

Japanese school

 

They forced us to learn twisted, deformed history that exalted Japan and its glory at every possible moment- a load of hocus-pocus-rotten-meat-rubbish. They even tinkered with the map of Korean peninsula, and insisted that our land looked like a weak bunny rabbit. We, on the other hand, had always thought of our peninsula as a strong tiger or a dragon, and here's a comparison of both pictures.

 

Tiger v.s. Rabbit

 

Fortunately as the oppressing hand of Japan got stronger, so did the backlashing power from our nation. The national heroes we know and celebrate now, 'Ahn Joong-Geun', 'Ryu Gwan-Sun' and much, much more participated in the movement for our 'minjok', Korea's freedom risking their lives and much more.

 

 

Korea!!!!!!

 

Moreover, loyal historians and intellects gathered and patched up pieces of 'minjok' together that the Japanese had tried so hard to tear apart.

 

 

Shin Chae-Ho

 

 

Shin Chae-Ho, a historian and an essayist, wrote a book called [New Reading of History(1908)] and excavated the nation's hidden (nearly) foundation myths, and the history of our past 'minjok'. And due to people like him, we were able to preserve our 'minjok'ness and its historical evidences. Otherwise who knows what we would have got left now, for stuff to designate as our 'minjok''s history.

 

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5. The significance & limitations of 'minjok'

 

 

To be direct, the positive, nice things about 'minjok' is that there are moral and just virtues included, like 'patriotism' and 'sacrifice', 'loyalty'. And that it was the backbone for our civilization for nearly 5 millenia. But there is one major drawback, and it is that 'leadership', especially a strong one, was absent.

 

 

 

As a result, the nation, our Han-'minjok' has suffered a lot through the years, in yearning for a strong leader, and this might explain the phenomena about president Park Jeong-Hee. One thing certain about him was that he was a leader, not counting 'good' or 'bad'. And so, whether his policies and violence(!) resulted in more good or bad for the people, some people (conservative ones, especially) remember Park as a good leader, who developed the nation's economy incredibly and made it better to live.

 

 

Of course, as they say, 'it's free to imagine'- or is it not?

 
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6. Globalization

 

 

Now globalization is happening, a new phenomena, somewhat, and our definition of 'minjok' should be changed as well. Particularly, the part that symbolizes 'a shared bloodline' should be revised, because the nation (including ours) is getting more and more diverse as foreign workers and other occupants come here and settle.

According to sir Shin Gi-Wok, Korea is unique in its way that coexists globalization with nationalism very naturally and matter-of-factly; and the reasons are as follows. One, the nationalist appropriation of globalization, and two, intensification of ethnic identity in reaction to globalization process.

In my opinion. globalization was a unique code for Korea- especially since our nation possess so much pride and love for the country and our 'minjok' (this is an objective statement- go and look at European countries, they have developed individualism while we did our 'minjok'.), and so we were the subject as we sucked in the cultures around us, and that was our way of globalization.

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7. 'Minjok' in 21 century

'Minjok' should be a somewhat flexible thing, as everything is changing rapidly these days, and 'minjok' is the core of Korea, of our nation and its foundation beliefs. So we should adapt to the changes that are happening in the rest of the world- but not lose our own stuff, virtues. Of course, this sounds like an incredibly hard and ambiguous thing to do.

And though it might sound a little bit overused, that's the true harmony of globalization and nationalism in a peaceful coexistence.

 

 

 

'Minjok' has been the leading force in the histories of our nations. Gojosun, Shinla, Baekjae, Chosun and you name it. We were bred from the same nest, with a common foundation myth; and has valuing virtues. It symbolized our ancestors' sacrifice, loyalty and patriotism. And it lit up the dark path of our history in times of hardships, like the Japanese attacks and so on.

 

 

 

And there's something I agree to the school's motto, that is, KMLA's, and it is that we, students, should be candles that light up our nation-sacrificing ourselves on the way-, 'minjok', and possibly the whole world. And be good leaders, to cure our nation. And this is NOt a load of rubbish or b.s., it's just an enlightenment.

 

CANDLE !

 

'Minjok' should now include more leaders and good Koreans- like sir Ban Ki-Moon, for example, and should continue(!) in being candles that light up the future path of Korea.

Candles, when one by one, might not be so much, but when multiplied and put together they will glow and light up the whole world.

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Now this is a fused-form of culture, which can symbolize globalization in a sense-
our traditional 'Arirang' combined with dances or instruments.
Thanks for reading this long, long article.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

  

 

<Arirang : 아리랑 ver.1>

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 <Arirang : 아리랑 ver.2>

 

 

 

8. References

 

-The book, [먼나라 이웃나라('Distant Countries and Neighboring Countries)]#9(Korea) by sir Lee Won-Bok

-'Segyehwa: The Globalization of Seoul' by Jaydan Tait

-'The Paradox of Korean Globalization' by Gi-Wook Shin