Minjok Essay (Korea in Heart, World in Mind)

Korean Minjok Leadership Academy

           “Korea in heart, world in mind” This is the school motto of Korean Minjok Leadership Academy[1]. My first impression on the motto was very positive. What a great motto it is? Being global leader and being patriot at the same time. When you feel the motto, it’s so well-made. However, when you start to think about it, it sounds quite odd. Korea in heart means having high value on Minjok[2] which refers to nationalism of Korea. In contrast to Korea in heart, world in mind refers to being a leader in the world of globalization. It is quite irony that concept Minjok(Nationalism in Korea) comes right along with globalization[3]. It’s because Minjok encourages Korean to care about ours more, ostracizing others.

           To understand better about characteristics of Minjok, I’ll briefly explain about the historical backgrounds of how the word Minjok was first coined. The term Minjok was first coined during the period of Japanese Colonization. At that time, Japan was trying to form “Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere[4]”. In order to do so they were trying to put Korean under the Pan-Asiatic identity. Korean intellectuals were opposed to such state. Trying to put stop to it, they needed something that will unite the nation and give Korean identity to people. This necessity resulted in creating the concept “Minjok”. Korean intellectuals used stories, myths, and legends that strengthen the bond between people. Such stories like the founding legends of Korea[5], which emphasize the bond we had with our lands since primordial time fitted so well.

           It is sure creation of the concept “Minjok” was outstanding work Korean intellectuals did during Japanese Colonization. Minjok gave us identity, and strong bond. It eventually resulted independence of Korea. Not only that, Minjok abled us to accomplish the miracle of Han river[6]. In amazingly short period of time, Korea succeeded to take a place in few leading countries of the world from the bottom. It successfully formed a strong bond among Koreans. World Cup for example, we can see how well Koreans are united under the quote "we are the one".

Modern trend of Globalization

           However, the time has changed and the world has changed. The concept “Minjok” was needed during the Japanese Colonization. Individual was not very important at that time, uniting as one nation and having Korean identity was important. We had to get rid of imminent threat from Japan at that time. After the period of Japanese Colonization, we also needed the concept “Minjok”. In order to develop and overcome difficulties, nations had to ask individuals to sacrifice for the nation and Minjok played its roll. But! It is different today. Something important nowadays is creativeness of individuals, global mind under the globalization. Minjok does not exactly fit under these trends. Minjok has many concepts that give Korean identity and one of the extremes would be concept of “blood purity[7]”. Blood purity does not fit modern trends. Blood purity can trigger ultranationalism[8] that is opposed to trend of globalization. Also, numbers of foreigner and marriage between Korean and foreigner is increasing. Concept of blood purity interrupts those Koreans to be “Korean”.

           Now is the time for the concept Minjok to be changed. Minjok should not be gone. There still should be something that provides identity to Korean and unite people and it is quite sure Minjok is the most effective method by far. However, it should go under the processing of improving. Minjok should be changed to include those new Koreans(foreigners and foreign marriages). It should broaden its meaning to the bigger group. Also rather than just emphasizing the unification of nation, it also should include concept that encourages individuals roll, and works. Furthermore Minjok should excludes materials that can trigger ultranationalism.

           Minjok is something we must have. We had it in the past, having it in the present, will have it in the future. Minjok served as Korean identity in the past, serving as Korean identity in the present, will serve as Korean identity in the future. However, as time passes and world changes, Minjok will have to go through changes. Changes can be sometimes small, and sometimes big. Sometimes changes will occur very slowly and sometimes it will occur very fast. With this in mind we would be able to truly have “Korea in heart, world in mind”







EMBEDDED LINKS
[1]http://english.minjok.hs.kr/
[2]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_ethnic_nationalism
[3]http://www.sustainablehistory.com/articles/definitions-of-globalization.pdf
[4]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_East_Asia_Co-prosperity_Sphere
[5]http://koreanhistory.info/tangun.htm
[6]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_on_the_Han_River
[7]http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2007/09/117_9419.html
[8]http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ultranationalism

VIDEOS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aizlVfwAW7w