Korean Studies Interview

1. First, please introduce yourself to the readers of the KSPS Newsletter.

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  Hello. My name is Kim Dong-choon, and I’m from Yeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province. This part August, I retired from the Department of Sociology at Sungkonghoe University in Seoul. My field of interest is political and historical sociology, with a particular interest in labor politics, the Korean War, state violence, and education, and I’ve written various academic articles and books on these topics. I’ve also participated in and directly organized and managed various social movement organizations, such as the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy. and, while working as the Standing Commissioner of South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission from 2005 to 2009, I also led a fact-finding mission on the civilian massacres during the Korean War.

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2. Was there a particular impetus that sparked your interest in Korean Studies research? What was the driving force that allowed you to continue your research activities in this way?

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  I completed all my degrees in Korea without studying abroad, with my primary area of research being modern and contemporary Korean history and contemporary Korean society. There was no particular impetus for doing Korean Studies. Rather, it was a natural result of my continued efforts from my youth until now to understand and find practical solutions to socially reform the place where I was born and live. Because I attended university toward the end of the Park Chung Hee military regime, I couldn’t help but gain a deep interest in Korea’s socio-political democratization, and sought to clarify the historical and sociological causes and mechanisms, such as national division and war, which stood in the way. As as a social scientist who hopes ofr a world free from violence, suppression, and inequality, I became interested in studying how and by which agents politics should be to be reformed in order to create such a world.

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3. This past November, your book Gweollyeok gwa sasang tongje [Power and Thought Control] was selected as the winner of the Academic Prize of the 18th Im Jong-guk Award. Congratulations! How does this moment feel for you?

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  Maybe because it is a long and abtruse academic book, it didn’t receive much attention from the press or from my fellow scholars upon its publication. However, I’m very grateful to the judges who read the book and selected it for the award. It made me reflect upon whether my work measures up to the resolved and achievements of Im Jong-guk, who was the first to raise the issue of pro-Japanese collaboration in Korea, which reminded me of my shortcomings.

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4. This book was published as a research result of the KSPS Grand Series of Korean Studies (20th Century Korean Academic Series) project, which you conducted over two years from 2020 to 2022. Please introduce the book and the contributions you hope it will make to society today.

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  I approached this book as a sequel to Jeonjaeng gwa sahoe [War and Society] (2000). The book covers thought control (sasang tongje) during the Japanese colonial period and the time after liberation, particularly the Park Chung Hee era. I extensively included the issues of legal sociology and political sociology, and I hope that such issues will be discussed together with history and social sciences in the future.

  I approached this issue upon the premise that the key logic of Korean society can be found in the stories told by the long-term prisoners who were released in the late 1980s, namely in their recounting of their abhorrant prison life, the violence and cruelty of the authorities, and, in particular the failure of Korean political, legal, and social structures to recognize them as “citizens.” Having directly met with left-wing leaders and related figures to gather numerous cases, I analyzed these cases from a socio-political perspective in an attempt to unearth the history of the thought suppression that suffocated Korea.

  I hope that this book will serve to facilitate a deep discussion on a “free democracy” that doesn’t permit freedom of conscience and thought, the existence of Korea’s legal and suppressive institutions in connection to the colonial system and the Cold War, the issue of postcolonialism, and the connection between the right to freedom and social rights.

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5. What improvements or additional support do you think is needed for the Grand Series of Korean Studies program to sustainably contribute to the spread and advancement of Korean Studies in the future?

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  As the aim of this project is to publish representative Korean Studies research books, I think that future plans should be made to elevate the research to an international standard and make the research results known globally.

  Although the inclusion of designating expert discussants in the project proposal requirements as a way to raise the research quality is an appropriate measure, I think there also needs to be an additional process for receiving the approval of academia, such a public discussion held connection to a research center such as the Academy of Korean Studies.

  While writing this book, I kept in mind the thought that it may one day be published in a foreign language such as English. Currently, many popular Korean literary works have been translated into foreign languages, and have even received the Nobel Prize. But if domestic academic research is not written in English, it will remain unknown to foreign experts and students. In the case of the humanities or social sciences, the global Korean Studies market is already quite small, so academic works published in Korean will not be translated by foreign publishers unless the government supports their translation. As it is difficult for all Korean Studies scholars to be trained in English writing and write books in English, I hope that the translation of key Korean Studies works into foreign languages, such as English and Chinese, can be included in as part of the Grand Series of Korean Studies program.

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6. Is there a long-term goal or wish that you hope to achieve through the Korean Studies program and your other diverse research and educational activities?

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  As a sociologist with the critical awareness of a historian, I think that Korean society and Korean history cannot be researched separately. In particular, modern and contemporary Korean history is always profoundly influenced by international politics and international economic conditions. The path taken by Korea in the 20th century cannot be approached separately that taken by neighboring Asian countries or former third-world countries. Accordingly, although the academic articles and books I’ve written in the past focus on Korea, I’ve always sought to consider the potential of generalizing the findings when carrying out research on Korea. However, because of my personal shortcomings and the limitations of academia, I’ve been unable to meet that standard, remaining as an individual area studies researcher.

  Although I’m unsure exactly what academic outcomes I’ll be able to achieve now that I’ve undergone my mandatory retirement from the university, in the future, I hope to write articles or books that investigate the flow and logic, change and outlook of the 20th century capitalist order based on the historical experience of Korea and other Asian countries.

  Because the humanities is relatively inaccessable to foreigners due to the issue of language, Korean scholars have led Korean Studies in those disciplines. However, this is not the case for the social sciences. For Korean scholarship to truly globalize, Korea’s social sciences take agency and become globalized. I hope that the next generation of scholars will not stop at the exploration of Korea’s experiences, but rather strive to generalize these experiences so that they may stand alongside global scholars.

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7. Thank you for your detailed answers to our questions. In conclusion, please share a word with the newsletter’s readers, Korean Studies researchers both in Korea and abroad, and the KSPS.

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  Compared to some 30 years ago, the research results and international status of Korean Studies has rapidly and greatly increased. However, compared to Korea’s international economic or political status, the level of this academic scholarship remains very low. Although Korean literature has reached the level of receiving a Nobel Prize, Korean scholarship has a long way to go. This is because scholarship needs a long time to accumulate, demands an infrastructure such as the building of various materials, and required the acquisition of various foreign languages.

  Unlike literature, the level of scholarship cannot be raised through the talents and efforts of a single scholar alone. It is only possible with the building of an overall infrastructure. In particular, the qualitative advancement of education for fostering scholars, in particular undergraduate and graduate education, is needed. Thus, I hope that Korean Studies can achieve an international scholarly level as quickly as possible and more actively contribute the resolution of humanity’s suffering.