냉전 이데올로기의 구조화와 내셔널 아이덴티티의 형성의 상관관계: 한일비교

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the impact of Cold War ideology on the formation of national identities in South Korea and Japan, and then trace the reconstruction process of Cold War realities in Northeast Asia. The structuralization processes of Cold War ideology in the two countries were very different; the results, too, were very different. While "bulwark against communism" primarily became South Korea"s self-image, a fairly large segment of the Japanese citizenry accepted pacifism as an integral part of their national identity despite their actual situation as a logistic base for the South Korean bulwark.

Geopolitical and other situational factors may well account for the divergence. But we should pay attention to the fact that each of the two countries constructed an inter-subjective reality of its own. South Korea, as a staunch anticommunist state, appropriated the Cold War exigency and volatilized it in dealing with a host of issues. Japan, on the other hand, tended to mitigate the tensions of the Cold War by invoking pacifist ideals.

In recent years, especially since the North-South Korea Summit of 2000, South Korea"s national identity has been moving from anticommunism to pacifism. By contrast, amid the rising tide of anti-North Koreanism (and anticommunism) since the Japan-North Korea Summit of 2002, Japan has shown less and less pacifism. This contrast means that there had been two different Cold War realities in Northeast Asia in the past.