Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-rvbq7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-10T16:31:58.913Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Reinterpreting Traditional History in North Korea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

Yōng-ho Ch'oe
Get access

Abstract

In reinterpreting traditional history according to the Marxist world view, the question of periodization is vitally important. This article examines the controversies surrounding the periodization and the nature of the new interpretation of traditional history in North Korea. One characteristic that stands out prominently in North Korean historiography is the nationalistic emphasis placed on the uniqueness and the superiority of the Korean civilization unaffected by any external influence. Also noteworthy is the attempt to reinterpret modern history largely in terms of glorifying the immediate forefathers of Kim Il-sŏng at the expense of historical objectivity.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 40 , Issue 3 , May 1981 , pp. 503 - 523
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1981

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 “History in North Korea: Its Role and Characteristics,” Journal of East and West Studies (Yonsei University), no. 1 (1976)Google Scholar.

2 “Chosŏn künsesa sigi kubun munje e kwanhan haksul t'oron ch'onghwa” (Summary of the academic discussion on the question of periodizing the modern period of Korea), Yŏksa kwahak 1962, no. 6, p. 84. (Hereafter cited as YSKH.)

3 See Sŏ;k-tam, Chōn, Chosŏn kyŏngje sa (An economic history of Korea), (Seoul, 1949), pp. 734.Google Scholar

4 Yŏksa Yŏn'guso, Chosŏn Minjujuŭi Inmin Konghwaguk KwahagwНn (Democratic Peo-ple's Republic of Korea, Academy of Science, Institute of Historical Research), Chosŏn t'ongsa (P'yŏngyang, 1958) 1: 76.Google Scholar

5 Yŏn'guso, Yŏksa, Samguk sigi ŭi sahoe kyŏngje kusŏng e kwanhan t'oronjip (P'yŏngyang, 1958)Google Scholar.

6 See also Sŏk-hyŏng, Kim, “Samguk ŭI keygŭp kusŏng” (Class composition in the Three Kingdoms), YSKH, 1959, no. 4.Google Scholar

7 Chosŏn t'ongsa (1962 ed.), pp. 41, 50, and 55.

8 “Yŏksa yŏn'gu esŏ tangsŏng ŭi wНnch'ik kwa yŏksa chuūi woōnch'ik ŭl kwanch'ōl halte taehayō” (On fulfilling the principles of partyism and “historyism” in the study of history), YSKH, 1966, no. 6, p. 4.Google Scholar

9 Yōn'guso, Sahoe Kwahagwōn Kogohak (Academy of Social Sciences, Institute of Archaeological Research), Ko Chosŏn munje yŏn'gu nonmunjip (Collection of research papers on problems of Ko Chosōn), (P'yŏngyang, 1977), pp. 1–2.Google Scholar

10 Chosŏn t'ongsa (1977 ed.), p. 39.

11 Ibid.

12 Ibid., pp. 39–42. Sun-jin, Yi and Chu-yŏp, Chang, Ko Chosŏn munje yŏn'gu (A study of problems concerning Ko Chosŏn), (P'yŏngyang, 1973), pp. 63–64.Google Scholar

13 Yōksa Yōn'guso, Chosŏn Minjujuŏi Inmin Konghwaguk Sahoe Kwahagwōn (as in n.4), Yŏksa sajŏn (Dictionary of history), (P'yōngyang, 1971) 1: 47Google Scholar.

14 Yi Sun-jin and Chang Chu-yōp, p. 1 (see n. 12).

15 Ibid., pp. 8–15.

16 Ibid., p. 14.

17 Chi-rin, Yi, Ko Chosŏn yŏn'gu (P'yōngyang, 1963), pp. 10–14 and 390–91.Google Scholar

18 Ibid., p. 18.

19 Ibid., p. 88.

20 Yi Sun-jin and Chang Chu-yōp, pp. 79–80, and Ko Chosŏn munje yŏngu nonmunjip (as in n. 9), pp. 72–73).

21 See Sueji, Umehara and Ryōsaku, Fufida, Chŏsen kobunka sōkan (A survey of the ancient civilization of Korea), Vols. 2 and 3 (Nara, 1948–1959)Google Scholar; and Tei, Sekino, Rakurōgun jidal no iseki (Remains of the Nangnang period), (Keijo, 1927)Google Scholar.

22 Yi Sun-jin and Chang Chu-yōp, p. 170.

23 Chosŏn t'ongsa (1977 ed.), pp. 80–81.

24 Yi Sun-jin and Chang Chu-yŏp, p. 118.

25 Ibid., pp. 116–19.

26 Ibid., p. 118.

27 See also Chin-uk, Pak, “Sŏbuk Chosōn kodae yujŏk ŭi sŏngkyŏk” (Characteristics of the ancient remains of Northwest Korea), YSKH 1977, no. 1, as translated into Japanese in Chōsen gakujtttsu tsūhŏ 55, nos. 1 and 2 (1978).Google Scholar

28 Yi Sun-jin and Chang Chu-yŏp, pp. 118–19.

29 Ibid., p. 120.

30 Ibid., pp. 139–60.

31 Ibid, pp. 146–49.

32 Ibid., p. 150.

33 Ibid., pp. 171–86. Mahan is an ancient tribal group, generally believed to have lived in the southwestern section of the Korean peninsula.

34 Ko Chosŏn munje yŏn'gu nonmunjip, p. 115.

35 Ibid., p. 116.

36 Kōichi, Tamura, “Rakurōgun chiiki shutsudo no inshō to hōni” (Seals and clay letter-seals discovered in the Nangnang area), Kōkogaku zasshi 62, no. 2 (1977)Google Scholar.

37 Ko Chosŏn munje yŏn'gu nonmunjip, pp. 140–41.

38 Chosŏn t'ongsa (1977 ed.), p. 2.

39 Ibid., p. 151.

40 See Hideki, Kajimura, “Shihon shugi hōga no mondai to hōken makki no nōmin tōsō” (On the question of the embryonic stage of capitalism and the peasant struggles at the end of the feudal period), in Takashi, Hatada, ed., Chōsen shi nyūmon (Tokyo, 1966), pp. 259–70.Google Scholar

41 Kwahagwŏn Yōksa Yōn'guso, Kŭnse mit Ch'oegŭnsesa Yōn'gusil (Academy of Sciences, Institute of Historical Research, Medieval and Early Modern History Research Office), Chosŏn kŭndae hyŏngmyŏng undong sa (P'yŏngyang, 1961), pp. 1–10Google Scholar.

42 Sŏk-tam, Chŏn, Chong-ho, Hō, and Hŏi-yu, Hong, Chosŏn esŏ chabon chŭui chŏk kwan'gye ŭi palsaetig (P'yŏngyang, 1970), p. 15Google Scholar.

43 For a good summary of the North Korean debates on this issue, see Yōng-uk, Kwōn, “Chōsen ni okeru shihon shugi hōga ronsō” (Debates on the embryonic stage of capitalism in Korea), Shisō, Dec. 1966, no. 510Google Scholar. See also Kajimura Hideki (n. 40).

44 Strayer, and Coulborn, , in Coulborn, Ruston, ed., Feudalism in History (Princeton: Princeton Unversity Press, 1956), p. 4.Google Scholar

45 Strayer, , in Hall, John W. and Jansen, Marius B., eds., Studies in the Institutional History of Early Japan (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1968), p. 3Google Scholar.

46 Ibid.

47 Yŏksa sajŏn 1: 911.

48 Kuk-chong, Chang, “Chosōn esŏ ŭi chabon chuūi ŭi yoso palsaeng e taehan myōtkaji munje” (Several problems on the rise of capitalistic relations in Korea), YSKH 1964, no. 4, p. 54Google Scholar.

49 YSKH 1964, no. 3.

50 YSKH 1964, no. 4, p. 51.

51 Wŏn-dong, Yu, Yi-jo hugi sanggong-ŏp sa yŏn'gu (A study of commercial and industrial history in the late Yi dynasty period), (Seoul, 1968), p. 134Google Scholar.

52 Kŭnse mit Ch'oegŭnsesa Yŏn'gusil (Early Modern and Modern History Research Office), “Chosŏn kŭnsesa sigi kubun munje e kwanhan haksul t'oron ch'onghwa” (A synopsis of the academic discussion on the periodization of Korea's modern period), YSKH 1962, no. 6, p. 88. For the beginning of the discussion, see “Chosŏn kŭnsesa ŭi sigi kubun e taehayŏ” (On the periodization of Korea's modern period), YSKH 1960, no. 3.Google Scholar

53 YSKH 1962, no. 6, pp. 86–87.

54 Yŏksa Yŏn'guso Kŭnsesa Yŏn'gusil (Institute of Historical Research, Early Modern History Research Office), “Kaehwap'a ŭi hyōngsōng” (The formation of the party of enlightenment), YSKH 1964, no. 3, p. 54Google Scholar.

55 Yŏ–ng-suk, Kim, “Kim Ok-kyun ŭi kūndaejŏk in kyŏngje kŏnsŏllon e taehayŏ” (On Kim Ok-kyun's modern economic construction programs), YSKH 1964, no. 2, p. 22Google Scholar.

56 Man, Im, “Kim Ok-kyun e taehayŏ” (A review of Kim Ok-kyun), YSKH 1964, no. 5, p. 59Google Scholar.

57 Chong-hyōn, Yi, “Uri nara esŏ ŭi 1894-nyōn (Kabo) purujoa kaehyŏk” (The bourgeois reforms of 1894 [Kabo] in our country), YSKH 1979, nos. 1 and 2Google Scholar. (The role of Pak Yŏng-hyo in the Kabo reforms, however, was bitterly denounced as that of selling out Korean interests to the Japanese imperialists. For a different view on this, see Lew, Young I., “The Reform Efforts and Ideas of Pak Yŏng-hyo, 1894–1895,” Korean Studies 1 [1977].Google Scholar)

58 Yŏksa sajŏn 1: 523.

59 YSKH 1962, no. 6, p. 87.

60 Yŏksa sajŏn 2: 85.

61 Bong, Baik, Kim ll Sung: Biography (Beirut, Lebanon: Dar Al-Talia, 1973) 1: 14Google Scholar. See also Yŏksa sajŏn 1: 2 and 2: 85, and Chōsen University, Rekishigaku Kenkyūshitsu (Historical Research Office), Chōsenshi (History of Korea), (Tokyo: Chosen seinensha, 1976), pp. 229–30Google Scholar. It is true that the Kim family lived in the area where the incident took place.

62 Yŏksa sajŏn 2: 78.

63 Ibid.

64 Kwahagwŏn, Chosŏn Minjujuŭi Inmin Konghwaguk Sahoe, Yōn'guso, Yŏksa, Yŏn-gusil, Kŭndae (Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Academy of Social Sciences, Institute of Historical Research, Modern History Research Office), Nihon teikokushugi tōchi ka no Chōsen (Korea under the rule of Japanese imperialism), Yo-hyŏn, Kim, trans, (Tokyo: Chosen seinensha, 1978), pp. 69–70Google Scholar. This is the Japanese translation of ilbon kunguk chuŭI ŭi Chosŏn ch'imyak sa 1910–1945 (A history of Japan's military aggression against Korea, 1910–1945), published in P'yŏngyang.

65 Chong-hyōn, Yi, “Samil undong ūi yōksa chōk kyohun” (Historical lessons of the March First Movement), YSKH 1978, no. 1, p. 26Google Scholar.

66 Nihon teikokushugi tōchi ka no Chōsen, p. 78.

67 Yŏksa sajoŏn 1: 277.

68 Chosŏn t'ongsa (1958 ed.) 2: 15: Na-yŏng, Yi, Chosŏn minjok haebang t'ujaengsa (A history of the Korea people's struggle for liberation), (P'yōngyang, 1958), p. 28Google Scholar: Chosŏn kŭndae hyŏngmyŏng undong sa, pp. 16–17.

69 Wiwōnhoe, Kuksa P'yŏnch'an, Kojong sidae sa (Chronological history of the Kojong reign), (Seoul, 1967) 1: 225–26.Google Scholar

70 Tŏk-sang, Kang, ed., Chōsen (Korea) 1 (vol. 25 of Gendaishi shiryō [Sources of contemporary history]), (Tokyo: Misuzu Shobo, 1976): 35–38.Google Scholar

71 I have been told by Won T. Sohn (Son Wŏn-t'ae), M.D., of Omaha, Nebraska, that he remembers one Kim Sōng-ju, whom he believes to be the present Kim Il-sŏng, as an active youth member and a Sunday school teacher in the church where his father, Rev. Son Chŏng-do, a well-known nationalist, was the minister in Kirin, Manchuria, around 1927 or 1928 while Kim was attending Yüwen Middle School. Dr. Sohn also recalls that Kim was an able and popular youth leader in the Korean community in the Kirin area. This claim by Dr. Sohn is supported by Mrs. Son In-sil, the present President of the National YWCA of Korea in Seoul, who is a younger sister of Dr. Sohn. (Based on my conversations and communito cations with both Dr. Sohn and Mrs. Son.) Moreoever, according to Kim Ch'ang-sun, the maternal grandfather of Kim Il-sōng, Kang Ton-uk, was an elder (changno) in a Presbyterian church in his hometown. See Ch'ang-sun, Kim, Yŏksa ŭI chŭngin (Witness to history), (Seoul, 1956), p. 83.Google Scholar

72 Yŏksa sajŏn 1: 283.

73 Ibid., 281.

74 Born in South Korea, Kim Sōk-hyōng was graduated from Keijō (Seoul) Imperial University and taught in Seoul before he moved to North Korea around 1948. Professor Peter H. Lee of the University of Hawaii, who was once a favorite student of his at Yangjōng High School in Seoul, remembers Kim as an unassuming and reticent man whose modesty earned him the nicknamepabo (idiot) among his students. However, Kim was an erudite and hard-working scholar, according to Lee.

75 YSKH 1966, no. 6, p. 2.

76 Kim Sŏk-hyŏng, Kim Hŭi-il, and Son Yŏng-jong, “Chŏn segyesa Chosŏn kwan'gye sŏsul ūi ŏmjung han ch'ago tŭl e taehayō” (On serious errors in the narrations related to Korea in World History), Kŭlloja, Sept. 20, 1963, no. 18(also in Nodong sinmun, Sept. 20, 1963). In 1959, North Korea proudly announced a joint project of North Korean and Russian historians to write a modern Korean history; see YSKH 1959, no. 1, pp. 90–92. But in 1961, Kim Sŏk-hyŏng severely criticized the preface to the Russian translation of Chosŏn t'ongsa for distorting Korean history; see YSKH 1961, no. 3.