Pure blood theory in Korea
Encyclopedia
Korean ethnic nationalism
, or racial nationalism, is a political ideology and a form of ethnic identity
that is prevalent in modern Korea
. It is based on the belief that Koreans form a nation
, a race, or an ethnic group
that shares a unified bloodline and a distinct culture
. It is centered around the notion of the minjok (민족; 民族), a term that had been coined in Japan
in the early Meiji period
on the basis of Social Darwinian
conceptions. Minjok has been translated as "nation," "people," "ethnic group," and "race-nation."
This conception started to emerge among Korean intellectual
s after the Japanese-imposed Protectorate of 1905, when the Japanese were trying to persuade Koreans that both nations were of the same racial stock. The notion of the Korean minjok was first made popular by essayist and historian Shin Chaeho in his New Reading of History
(1908), a history of Korea
from the mythical times of Dangun
to the fall of Balhae
in 926 CE. Shin portrayed the minjok as a warlike race that had fought bravely to preserve Korean identity, had later declined, and now needed to be reinvigorated. During the period of Japanese rule
(1910-1945), this belief in the uniqueness of the Korean minjok gave an impetus for resisting
Japanese assimilation
policies and historical
scholarship.
In contrast to Japan and Germany
, where such race-based conceptions of the nation were discredited after the Second World War because they were associated with ultranationalism or Nazism
, postwar North
and South Korea
continued to proclaim the ethnic homogeneity and pure bloodline of the "Great Han" race. In the 1960s, President Park Chung-hee
strengthened this "ideology of racial purity" to legitimate his authoritarian rule, while in North Korea
official propaganda
has portrayed Koreans as "the cleanest race." Contemporary Korean historians continue to write about the nation's "unique racial and cultural heritage." This shared conception of a racially defined Korea continues to shape Korean politics and foreign relations, gives Koreans an impetus to national pride, and feeds hopes for the reunification of the two Koreas
.
Despite statistics showing that Korea is becoming an increasingly multi-ethnic society, most of the Korean population continues to identify itself as "one people" (danil minjok; 단일민족; 單一民族) joined by a common bloodline. A renewed emphasis on the purity of Korean "blood" has caused tensions, leading to renewed debates on multi-ethnicity and xenophobia both in Korea and abroad.
In the colonial period, the Japanese assimilation policy claimed that Koreans and Japanese were of common origin but the former always subordinate. The pure blood theory was used to justify colonialist policies to replace Korean cultural traditions with Japanese ones in order to supposedly get rid of all distinctions and achieve equality between Koreans and inlanders. The policy included changing Korean names into Japanese, exclusive use of Japanese language, school instruction in the Japanese ethical system, and Shinto worship.
In resistance to the Japanese assimilation
policy, Koreans came forward to assert their unique national heritage. Shin Chaeho (신채호; 申采浩; 1880–1936), the founder of the nationalistic historiography of modern Korea and a Korean independence movement
activist, published his influential book of reconstructed history Joseon Sanggosa
(조선상고사; 朝鮮上古史; The Early History of Joseon) in 1924-25, proclaiming that Koreans are descendants of Dangun
(단군; 檀君), the legendary ancestor of Korean people, who merged with Buyo of Manchuria
to form the Goguryeo
(고구려; 高句麗) people.
Borrowing from the Japanese theory of nation and race, Shin Chaeho located the martial roots of the Korean in Goguryeo, which he depicted as militarist, expansionist which turned out to inspire pride and confidence in the resistance against the Japanese. In order to establish Korean uniqueness, he also replaced the story of Gija (기자, 箕子) whose founder was the paternal uncle or brother of the Chinese Shang
emperor Zhou
with the Dangun legend and asserted that it is the important ways to establish Korea’s uniqueness.
After the independence in the late 1940s, despite the split between North and South Korea, neither side disputed the ethnic homogeneity of the Korean nation based on a firm conviction that they are purest descendant of a legendary genitor and half-god figure called Dangun who founded Gojoseon
in 2333 BCE based on the description of the Dongguk Tonggam
(1485).
Some Korean scholars observed that the pure blood theory served as a useful tool for the South Korean government to make its people obedient and easy to govern when the country was embroiled in ideological turmoil. It was especially true in the dictatorial leaderships by former presidents Syngman Rhee
and Park Chung-hee
when nationalism was incorporated into anti-Communism.
The ideology also maintains a conviction amongst Koreans that both South and North Koreans are all brothers and sisters of the same blood-family and reunification is the ultimate goal.
The notion of the pure blood theory comes at the cost of discrimination on people of both "foreign-blood" and "mixed blood."
According to 2009 statistics published by Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare, there are 144,385 couples of international marriage in South Korea as of May, 2008. 88.4% of immigrants was female, and 61.9% was from China. Recently it has been argued that South Korean society had already become a multicultural society. As of 2011, 10 ministries and agencies of South Korean government are supporting international couples and foreign workers in South Korea toward the cultural plurality.
In 2006, Hines Ward
who was born to a Korean mother and an African American
father became the first Korean American to win the Super Bowl MVP award. This achievement threw him into the media spotlight in South Korea. When he travelled to Korea for the first time, he raised unprecedented attention to the acceptance of "mixed blood" children. He also donated USD 1 million to establish the "Hines Ward Helping Hands Foundation", which the media called "a foundation to help mixed-race children like himself in South Korea, where they have suffered discrimination."
However, while Koreans are fascinated by the bi-racial sport hero, the majority of ordinary mixed-race people and migrant workers face various forms of discrimination and prejudice. In 2007, the Korean pure blood theory became an international issue when the U.N. Committee on the International Convention Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination urged better education on the pure blood theory is needed especially for judicial workers such as police officers, lawyers, prosecutors and judges. The suggestion got mixed reception in South Korea in which some raised a xenophobic concern that foreigners will invade the Korean culture and challenged the sovereignty of Korea. Others also claimed that the embrace of multi-ethnicism is at the cost of reunification.
The Korea nationality law is based on jus sanguinis
instead of the territorial principle which takes into account the place of birth. In this context, most Koreans have stronger attachment to "ethnic Koreans living in foreign countries" than to "ethnic non-Koreans living in Korea."
In 2005, the opposition Grand National Party
suggested a revision of the current nationality law to allow Korean nationality to people who are born in South Korea regardless of the nationalities of their parents but it was discarded due to unfavorable public opinion.
Racism is an ongoing problem and there has been a great deal of awareness in South Korea. Hines Ward was granted "honorary" Korean citizenship. Tasha Reid
(also known as Natasha Shanta Reid, Korean name is Yoon Mi-rae (윤미래)) is a famous mixed race singer in Korea. Middle school access has been expanded to children of illegal immigrants.
Ethnic nationalism
Ethnic nationalism is a form of nationalism wherein the "nation" is defined in terms of ethnicity. Whatever specific ethnicity is involved, ethnic nationalism always includes some element of descent from previous generations and the implied claim of ethnic essentialism, i.e...
, or racial nationalism, is a political ideology and a form of ethnic identity
Identity (social science)
Identity is a term used to describe a person's conception and expression of their individuality or group affiliations . The term is used more specifically in psychology and sociology, and is given a great deal of attention in social psychology...
that is prevalent in modern Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
. It is based on the belief that Koreans form a nation
Nation
A nation may refer to a community of people who share a common language, culture, ethnicity, descent, and/or history. In this definition, a nation has no physical borders. However, it can also refer to people who share a common territory and government irrespective of their ethnic make-up...
, a race, or an ethnic group
Ethnic group
An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...
that shares a unified bloodline and a distinct culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
. It is centered around the notion of the minjok (민족; 民族), a term that had been coined in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
in the early Meiji period
Meiji period
The , also known as the Meiji era, is a Japanese era which extended from September 1868 through July 1912. This period represents the first half of the Empire of Japan.- Meiji Restoration and the emperor :...
on the basis of Social Darwinian
Social Darwinism
Social Darwinism is a term commonly used for theories of society that emerged in England and the United States in the 1870s, seeking to apply the principles of Darwinian evolution to sociology and politics...
conceptions. Minjok has been translated as "nation," "people," "ethnic group," and "race-nation."
This conception started to emerge among Korean intellectual
Intellectual
An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...
s after the Japanese-imposed Protectorate of 1905, when the Japanese were trying to persuade Koreans that both nations were of the same racial stock. The notion of the Korean minjok was first made popular by essayist and historian Shin Chaeho in his New Reading of History
Doksa Sillon
Doksa sillon or A New Reading of History is a book that discusses the history of Korea from the time of the mythical Dangun to the fall of the kingdom of Baekje in 926 CE...
(1908), a history of Korea
History of Korea
The Korean Peninsula was inhabited from the Lower Paleolithic about 400,000-500,000 years ago. Archeological evidence indicates that the presence of modern humans in northeast Asia dates to 39,000 years ago. The earliest known Korean pottery dates to around 8000 BC, and the Neolithic period began...
from the mythical times of Dangun
Dangun
Dangun Wanggeom was the legendary founder of Gojoseon, the first Korean kingdom, around present-day Liaoning, Manchuria, and the Korean Peninsula. He is said to be the "grandson of heaven", and to have founded the kingdom in 2333 BC...
to the fall of Balhae
Balhae
Balhae was a Manchurian kingdom established after the fall of Goguryeo. After Goguryeo's capital and southern territories fell to Unified Silla, Dae Jo-yeong, a Mohe general, whose father was Dae Jung-sang, established Jin , later called Balhae.Balhae occupied southern parts of Manchuria and...
in 926 CE. Shin portrayed the minjok as a warlike race that had fought bravely to preserve Korean identity, had later declined, and now needed to be reinvigorated. During the period of Japanese rule
Korea under Japanese rule
Korea was under Japanese rule as part of Japan's 35-year imperialist expansion . Japanese rule ended in 1945 shortly after the Japanese defeat in World War II....
(1910-1945), this belief in the uniqueness of the Korean minjok gave an impetus for resisting
Resistance movement
A resistance movement is a group or collection of individual groups, dedicated to opposing an invader in an occupied country or the government of a sovereign state. It may seek to achieve its objects through either the use of nonviolent resistance or the use of armed force...
Japanese assimilation
Assimilation
Assimilation may refer to:*Assimilation , a linguistic process by which a sound becomes similar to an adjacent sound...
policies and historical
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
scholarship.
In contrast to Japan and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, where such race-based conceptions of the nation were discredited after the Second World War because they were associated with ultranationalism or Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
, postwar North
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
and South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
continued to proclaim the ethnic homogeneity and pure bloodline of the "Great Han" race. In the 1960s, President Park Chung-hee
Park Chung-hee
Park Chung-hee was a Republic of Korea Army general and the leader of South Korea from 1961 to 1979. He seized power in a military coup and ruled until his assassination in 1979. He has been credited with the industrialization of the Republic of Korea through export-led growth...
strengthened this "ideology of racial purity" to legitimate his authoritarian rule, while in North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
official propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
has portrayed Koreans as "the cleanest race." Contemporary Korean historians continue to write about the nation's "unique racial and cultural heritage." This shared conception of a racially defined Korea continues to shape Korean politics and foreign relations, gives Koreans an impetus to national pride, and feeds hopes for the reunification of the two Koreas
Korean reunification
Korean reunification refers to the hypothetical future reunification of North Korea and South Korea under a single government...
.
Despite statistics showing that Korea is becoming an increasingly multi-ethnic society, most of the Korean population continues to identify itself as "one people" (danil minjok; 단일민족; 單一民族) joined by a common bloodline. A renewed emphasis on the purity of Korean "blood" has caused tensions, leading to renewed debates on multi-ethnicity and xenophobia both in Korea and abroad.
Early use
Contrary to popular belief in Korea, the Korean ideology of purest race began only in the early 20th century when the Japanese annexed Korea and launched a campaign to persuade them that they were of the same pure racial stock as the Japanese themselves.In the colonial period, the Japanese assimilation policy claimed that Koreans and Japanese were of common origin but the former always subordinate. The pure blood theory was used to justify colonialist policies to replace Korean cultural traditions with Japanese ones in order to supposedly get rid of all distinctions and achieve equality between Koreans and inlanders. The policy included changing Korean names into Japanese, exclusive use of Japanese language, school instruction in the Japanese ethical system, and Shinto worship.
Independence
Cultural assimilation
Cultural assimilation is a socio-political response to demographic multi-ethnicity that supports or promotes the assimilation of ethnic minorities into the dominant culture. The term assimilation is often used with regard to immigrants and various ethnic groups who have settled in a new land. New...
policy, Koreans came forward to assert their unique national heritage. Shin Chaeho (신채호; 申采浩; 1880–1936), the founder of the nationalistic historiography of modern Korea and a Korean independence movement
Korean independence movement
The Korean independence movement grew out of the Japanese colonial rule of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945. After the Japanese surrendered, Korea became independent; that day is now an annual holiday called Gwangbokjeol in South Korea, and Chogukhaebangŭi nal in North Korea.-Background:In...
activist, published his influential book of reconstructed history Joseon Sanggosa
Joseon Sanggosa
Joseon Sanggosa is a book written in 1931 by Shin Chaeho, and which describes the ancient history of Korea. It covers the history of Korea from Gojoseon to the destruction of Baekje. It was published serially in the Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo from 1931. It was finally published as a separate...
(조선상고사; 朝鮮上古史; The Early History of Joseon) in 1924-25, proclaiming that Koreans are descendants of Dangun
Dangun
Dangun Wanggeom was the legendary founder of Gojoseon, the first Korean kingdom, around present-day Liaoning, Manchuria, and the Korean Peninsula. He is said to be the "grandson of heaven", and to have founded the kingdom in 2333 BC...
(단군; 檀君), the legendary ancestor of Korean people, who merged with Buyo of Manchuria
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...
to form the Goguryeo
Goguryeo
Goguryeo or Koguryŏ was an ancient Korean kingdom located in present day northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula, southern Manchuria, and southern Russian Maritime province....
(고구려; 高句麗) people.
Borrowing from the Japanese theory of nation and race, Shin Chaeho located the martial roots of the Korean in Goguryeo, which he depicted as militarist, expansionist which turned out to inspire pride and confidence in the resistance against the Japanese. In order to establish Korean uniqueness, he also replaced the story of Gija (기자, 箕子) whose founder was the paternal uncle or brother of the Chinese Shang
Shang
The shang is a flat ritual upturned handbell employed by Bönpo and Asian shamans. The sizes of the shang range from approximately 3 to 20 inches in diameter. It is traditionally held to have originated in Zhangzhung and is symbolically similar to the tantric dril-bhu. Shang are traditionally...
emperor Zhou
King Zhou of Shang
Emperor Xin of Shang was the last king of the Shang Dynasty. He was later given the pejorative posthumous name Zhòu . He is also called Zhou Xin or King Zhou . He may also be referred to by adding "Shang" in front of any of his names...
with the Dangun legend and asserted that it is the important ways to establish Korea’s uniqueness.
After the independence in the late 1940s, despite the split between North and South Korea, neither side disputed the ethnic homogeneity of the Korean nation based on a firm conviction that they are purest descendant of a legendary genitor and half-god figure called Dangun who founded Gojoseon
Gojoseon
Gojoseon was an ancient Korean kingdom. Go , meaning "ancient," distinguishes it from the later Joseon Dynasty; Joseon, as it is called in contemporaneous writings, is also romanized as Chosŏn....
in 2333 BCE based on the description of the Dongguk Tonggam
Dongguk Tonggam
The Dongguk Tonggam is a chronicle of early Korean history, compiled by Seo Geo-jeong and other scholars in the 15th century. Originally commissioned by King Sejo in 1446, it was completed under the reign of Seongjong of Joseon, in 1485. The official Ch'oe Pu was one of the scholars who helped...
(1485).
Reception
In Korea, pure blood theory is a common belief justified as "defensive nationalism." The debates on this topic can be found sporadic in the South, whereas the public opinion in the North is hard to access. In a nationalistic view, to impugn the theory would have been tantamount to betraying Koreanness in the face of the challenge of an alien ethnic nation.Some Korean scholars observed that the pure blood theory served as a useful tool for the South Korean government to make its people obedient and easy to govern when the country was embroiled in ideological turmoil. It was especially true in the dictatorial leaderships by former presidents Syngman Rhee
Syngman Rhee
Syngman Rhee or Yi Seungman was the first president of South Korea. His presidency, from August 1948 to April 1960, remains controversial, affected by Cold War tensions on the Korean peninsula and elsewhere. Rhee was regarded as an anti-Communist and a strongman, and he led South Korea through the...
and Park Chung-hee
Park Chung-hee
Park Chung-hee was a Republic of Korea Army general and the leader of South Korea from 1961 to 1979. He seized power in a military coup and ruled until his assassination in 1979. He has been credited with the industrialization of the Republic of Korea through export-led growth...
when nationalism was incorporated into anti-Communism.
The ideology also maintains a conviction amongst Koreans that both South and North Koreans are all brothers and sisters of the same blood-family and reunification is the ultimate goal.
Xenophobia
According to 2009 statistics published by Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare, there are 144,385 couples of international marriage in South Korea as of May, 2008. 88.4% of immigrants was female, and 61.9% was from China. Recently it has been argued that South Korean society had already become a multicultural society. As of 2011, 10 ministries and agencies of South Korean government are supporting international couples and foreign workers in South Korea toward the cultural plurality.
In 2006, Hines Ward
Hines Ward
Hines E. Ward, Jr. is an American football player who currently plays the wide receiver position for the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers, where he is the longest-tenured current player on the team. He was voted MVP of Super Bowl XL. He played college football at the University of Georgia...
who was born to a Korean mother and an African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
father became the first Korean American to win the Super Bowl MVP award. This achievement threw him into the media spotlight in South Korea. When he travelled to Korea for the first time, he raised unprecedented attention to the acceptance of "mixed blood" children. He also donated USD 1 million to establish the "Hines Ward Helping Hands Foundation", which the media called "a foundation to help mixed-race children like himself in South Korea, where they have suffered discrimination."
However, while Koreans are fascinated by the bi-racial sport hero, the majority of ordinary mixed-race people and migrant workers face various forms of discrimination and prejudice. In 2007, the Korean pure blood theory became an international issue when the U.N. Committee on the International Convention Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination urged better education on the pure blood theory is needed especially for judicial workers such as police officers, lawyers, prosecutors and judges. The suggestion got mixed reception in South Korea in which some raised a xenophobic concern that foreigners will invade the Korean culture and challenged the sovereignty of Korea. Others also claimed that the embrace of multi-ethnicism is at the cost of reunification.
The Korea nationality law is based on jus sanguinis
Jus sanguinis
Ius sanguinis is a social policy by which citizenship is not determined by place of birth, but by having a parent who are citizens of the nation...
instead of the territorial principle which takes into account the place of birth. In this context, most Koreans have stronger attachment to "ethnic Koreans living in foreign countries" than to "ethnic non-Koreans living in Korea."
In 2005, the opposition Grand National Party
Grand National Party
The Grand National Party is a conservative political party in South Korea. Its Korean name, Hannara, has a double meaning as "Great National" and "Korean National." The GNP holds a majority of seats in the 18th Assembly, lasting from 2008 to 2012....
suggested a revision of the current nationality law to allow Korean nationality to people who are born in South Korea regardless of the nationalities of their parents but it was discarded due to unfavorable public opinion.
Racism is an ongoing problem and there has been a great deal of awareness in South Korea. Hines Ward was granted "honorary" Korean citizenship. Tasha Reid
Tasha Reid
Tasha Reid , better known by her Korean name Yoon Mi-rae , is an R&B singer and rapper.- Early life :Reid was born to a South Korean mother, and an African American father...
(also known as Natasha Shanta Reid, Korean name is Yoon Mi-rae (윤미래)) is a famous mixed race singer in Korea. Middle school access has been expanded to children of illegal immigrants.
See also
- Korean nationalismKorean nationalismKorean nationalism refers to nationalism among the Korean people. In the Korean context, this encompasses various of movements throughout history to maintain the Korean cultural identity, history, and ethnicity.-History:...
- Anti-American sentiment in KoreaAnti-American sentiment in KoreaThe Anti-Americanism in Korea began with the earliest contact between the two nations and continued after the division of Korea. In both North Korea and South Korea, anti-Americanism after the Korean War has focused on the presence and behavior of American military personnel , aggravated especially...
- Japan–Korea disputes
Further reading
- Chae, Ou-Byung. "Non-Western Colonial Rule and its Aftermath: Postcolonial State Formation in South Korea." Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Sociology, University of Michigan. ProQuest, 2006.
- Grinker, Roy Richard. Korea and its Futures: Unification and the Unfinished War. Palgrave Macmillan, 2000.
- Jager, Sheila Miyoshi. Narratives of Nation-Building in Korea: A Genealogy of Patriotism. M.E. Sharpe, 2003.
- Kim, Nadia Y. Imperial Citizens: Koreans and Race from Seoul to LA. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2008.
- Lee Gage, Sue-Je. "Pure Mixed Blood: The Multiple Identities of Amerasians in South Korea." Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Indiana University. ProQuest, 2007.
- Pai, Hyung Il. Constructing "Korean" Origins: A Critical Review of Archaeology, Historiography, and Racial Myth in Korean State-Formation Theories. Harvard University Asia Center, 2000.
- Pai, Hyung Il, and Timothy R. Tangherlini (eds.). Nationalism and the Construction of Korean Identity. Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, 1998.
- Schmid, Andre. Korea Between Empires, 1895-1919. Columbia University Press, 2002.
- Shin, Gi-Wook, and Michael Robinson (eds.). Colonial Modernity in Korea. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University East Asia Center, distributed by Harvard University Press, 2001.
- Shin, Gi-Wook. Ethnic Nationalism in Korea: Genealogy, Politics, and Legacy. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006.