'Difficult Heritage' in Nation Building

South Korea and Post-Conflict Japanese Colonial Occupation Architecture

Hyun Kyung Lee

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9783319663388
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Cultural & Social Anthropology
• Index: Social Sciences

This book explores South Korean responses to the architecture of the Japanese colonial occupation of Korea and the ways that architecture illustrates the relationship between difficult heritage and the formation of national identity. Detailing the specific case of Seoul, Hyun Kyung Lee investigates how buildings are selectively destroyed, preserved, or reconstructed in order to either establish or challenge the cultural identity of places as new political orders are developed. In addition, she illuminates the Korean traditional concept of feng shui as a core indigenous framework for understanding the relationship between space and power, as it is associated with nation-building processes and heritagization.

By providing a detailed study of a case little known outside of East Asia, 'Difficult Heritage' in Nation Building will expand the framework of Western-centered heritage research by introducing novel Asian perspectives.

© The Author(s) 2019

Hyun Kyung Lee'Difficult Heritage' in Nation BuildingPalgrave Studies in Cultural Heritage and Conflicthttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66338-8_1

Begin Abstract

1. The Problematic Past and Difficult Heritage: The Japanese Colonial Occupation of Korea and Its Architectural Legacies

Hyun Kyung Lee^{1, 2}

(1)

Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities (CRASSH), University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

(2)

The Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS), Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea

Hyun Kyung Lee

End Abstract

The two photographs that make up ‘Seoul Panorama 1929/2009’ (Fig. 1.1), displayed in the Seoul Museum of History, both show Seoul’s cityscape encompassed within its four main gates, spanning from Mt. Bukhan on the left to Mt. Nam on the right. The photographs, taken respectively during Japanese rule and over sixty years after liberation, illustrate the dramatic changes to Seoul’s architectural landscape over this period. Dramatic as these changes may be in visual terms alone, they echo an even greater transfiguration in the country’s character, national identity, and memories. The identity and national narrative changes associated with these physical transformations are so vast and so contested that they have barely begun to be understood.

Fig. 1.1

Seoul panorama 1929/2009

(1929 photograph by Min Jeong-shik, 2009 photograph by Choi In-ho) (Source Seoul Museum of History)

The Japanese invasion of Korea (1910–1945) was a pivotal turning point in the physical transformation of Seoul, and indeed of all of Korea. From the general perspective of the Korean people, this occupation is regarded as a painful and traumatic episode of history that brought about unexpected ruptures in Korea. Since liberation in 1945, negative memories of Japanese rule have played a part in influencing the fate of the Japanese architectural legacy, with some structures undergoing both physical and symbolic transformation. As with other cases of conflict heritage , the buildings in question have been ignored in some cases, reused, or even destroyed in others, and have undergone shifts in the connotations and symbolic meanings with which they are imbued. This book examines the growth of South Korea’s national identity after 1945 through the lens of its diverse reactions to this Japanese colonial occupation architecture. In particular, it sheds light on the relationship between difficult heritage and national identity formation from the perspective of Heritage Studies. This new point of view can yield new insights for understanding colonial and post-colonial history not only in Korea but throughout East Asia. To situate the research, let us start by outlining the significance of this ‘problematic past’ in current Korean society.

‘The Problematic Past’: The Japanese Colonial Occupation of Korea

Korean historical accounts have typically deemed the period of Japanese rule in Korea (1910–1945) to be ‘the problematic past’, due to the enormous impacts this period had on Korean society both at the time and subsequently. The terminology used here is significant: the label ‘problematic past’ is frequently applied by Koreans when discussing the period that is variously referred to as the ‘Japanese colonial period’ (iljesingminjigi, 日帝植民地期) and as the ‘period of the Japanese occupation’ (iljegangjeomgi, 日帝强占期), with other similar terms also being used frequently and interchangeably. While most Japanese scholars tend to use the term ‘Japanese colonial/imperial period’, Korean nationalists and many Koreans prefer to call this period the ‘Japanese occupation’ in order to emphasise the forceful and violent rule of the Japanese during the period.

Some scholars term the period the ‘Japanese colonial occupation of Korea ’ in order to highlight the experiences of the Korean people during this time, as distinct from general concepts of colonialism and occupation (e.g. Kim 2008; Kwon 2010; Pai 2013). Indeed, despite their specific concerns with the period itself and its aftermath, most scholars do not seem to distinguish these various terms strictly from one another. Admittedly, the Japanese rule of Korea from 1910 to 1945 arguably displayed the characteristics of both colonialism and occupation, and this duality has been responsible for forming the complexities and contradictions of this period and hence inflects the unique Korean case. To reflect the diverse aspects of this period, I choose to term it the ‘Japanese colonial occupation of Korea’ (hereafter JCO), and term the heritage relating to this period ‘JCO heritage ’.

The relationship between Korea and Japan is commonly characterised as ‘so near and yet so far’ due to the pair’s physical proximity and shared history. As the Korean peninsula is geographically situated adjacent to Japan (see Fig. 1.2), the two countries have been engaged in intense political, economic, cultural, and historical interaction since the Three Kingdoms Period in Korea (ca. 300–668 AD) (Lee 1984: 2). However, despite the important economic partnership they have maintained since 1965 (Lee 1984: 1), the two countries also retain unresolved conflicts stemming in particular from the JCO. ¹

Fig. 1.2

Relative positions of Japan and Korea

(Source Map illustration by Kim Jong-geun)

In South Korean society, the JCO is regarded as ‘a form of repression and exploitation which caused increasing social inequality and conflicts, and stimulated anti-Japanese enmity’ (Haggard et al. 1997, quoted in Bang and Amara 2014: 619). Some scholars appreciate that the changes brought about by Japanese colonialism helped Korea to convert itself into a modern country with new infrastructure (e.g. Ahn 2001; Park et al. 2004). Nonetheless, most South Koreans believe that Japanese colonial rule deprived the Korean nation of the chance to develop its own form of modernisation. As Shin and Robinson (1999: 13) note, it is widely accepted that ‘the Japanese repressed nascent Korean modernity in favour of economic exploitation and cultural assimilation’. Therefore, this period is generally characterised as one featuring ‘a harsh colonizer and a suffering colonized’ in the minds of the Korean people (Podoler 2008: 2).

At the same time, JCO memories are constantly strengthened and regenerated by ‘public education, social-cultural channels (e.g. mass media and literature), and public commemoration’ (Youn 2014: 260), which emphasise the negative aspects of the JCO. In turn, the majority of South Koreans are educated and socialised into perceiving the JCO as ‘a shaming past’ (Youn 2014: 260) or ‘a problematic past’ (Podoler 2007: 2), and Japan as ‘a national foe’ (Oh 2009: 371). Collective hostility towards Japan has been reinforced by twenty-first century issues: disputes over the Dok-do island territory; the pursuit of an official Japanese government apology for the use of Korean women as ‘comfort women’ ² ; acts of worship by Japanese politicians at the Yasukuni Shrine, where convicted war criminals of the Second World War were commemorated; and the ‘textbook controversies’ arising from Japanese textbooks’ glorification of Japan’s imperial past (e.g. Oh 2009: 371; Youn 2014: 260). In these conflicts, while the Japanese government seeks to justify its imperial past, its Korean counterpart constructs memorials laden with JCO memories, as physical evidence reminding and informing Koreans and non-Koreans alike of what the Japanese authorities did during that period.

The opposing views of the JCO held in Japan and Korea respectively have recently been further intensified through a controversy concerning a memorial hall built for the Korean patriot Ahn Jung-geun, opened to the public at Harbin Station, Heilongjiang, China, on 19 January 2014. Ahn Jung-geun (1879–1910) was a Korean independence activist who assassinated Itō Hirobumi (1841–1909), the first Japanese prime minister, at the station in 1909. ³ The memorial hall, intended to honour Ahn as a Korean patriotic martyr, was first sugge...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• 1. The Problematic Past and Difficult Heritage: The Japanese Colonial Occupation of Korea and Its Architectural Legacies
• 2. Mapping the Memories of the Japanese Colonial Occupation of Korea (JCO)
• 3. Seodaemun Prison: From Symbol of Fear and Violence to Symbol of Freedom and Victory
• 4. Gyeongbokgung Palace and the Japanese Government-General Building (JGGB): Power Struggles and the Contested Places of Korean National Identity
• 5. Dongdaemun Stadium: Between Korean Tradition, Colonial Memory, and Dreams for the Future
• 6. South Korean Responses to Japanese Colonial Occupation Architecture (JCOA)
• 7. Conclusion: The Role of Difficult Heritage in Nation Building in South Korea
• Back Matter