The paper traces North Korean culture to Confucian patriarchal familism and a closed socialist system, and proposes directions for the psychological unification of North and South Korea.
The Cultural Characteristics of North Korea and the Psychological Unification of the Two Koreas
북한의 문화적 특성과 남북한의 심리적 통일
QUESTION
To achieve psychological unification of the two Koreas, what are the cultural and psychological traits of North Koreans, and what should be done in light of research on acculturation?
FINDINGS
Many scholars of North Korea broadly agree that the most basic trait of its culture is patriarchal familism steeped in Confucian values.
북한 문화의 가장 기본적인 속성이 유교적 가치관을 강하게 내포하고 있는 가부장적 가족주의이라는 점에 대체로 동의하고 있다…broadly agree that the most basic attribute of North Korean culture is patriarchal familism that strongly embodies Confucian values.p4북한의 문화에 대해 연구하고 있는 많은 사회과학자들은Many social scientists studying North Korean culture…p4The author reads the father-to-son succession from Kim Il-sung to Kim Jong-il as resting not only on political skill but on the cultural soil of patriarchal familism.
거기에는 이것이 기능하게 만든 가부장적 가족주의의 문화적인 토양이 있다There lies beneath it the cultural soil of patriarchal familism that made this work.p7이 전대미문의 권력세습이 단지 김일성과 김정일의 뛰어난 정치력과 조직장악력만으로 충분히 설명될 수 있을까Can this unprecedented hereditary succession be fully explained just by Kim Il-sung's and Kim Jong-il's outstanding political skill and organizational control?p7Taken together, studies of defectors suggest that North Koreans value collectivism and equality and tend to be closed, inflexible and uniform.
은 집단주의와 평등의 가치를 중시하고. 폐쇄적이고 퓨성이 없으며 획일적인 성향을 강하게 나타낸다고 결론지을 수 있다…it can be concluded that they value collectivism and equality, and strongly show closed, inflexible and uniform tendencies.p14이상의 연구 결과들을 요약하면, 북한 주민들은 전통적인 가부장적 가족주의와Summarizing the above research findings, North Korean residents [have psychological traits born of] traditional patriarchal familism and…p14Psychological unification requires not only that North Koreans adapt to South Korean culture, but that South Koreans actively adapt to North Korean culture too.
북한 주민들만이 남한 문화에 적응하는 것이 아니라. 남한 주민들도 북한 문화에 적응한다는 적극적 자세를 가져야 한다Not only should North Koreans adapt to South Korean culture; South Koreans too should take an active stance of adapting to North Korean culture.p19IN DAILY LIFE
North Korea abolished holidays like Chuseok (추석, the harvest festival), and on Chuseok morning residents bow to portraits of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il.
북한 주민들은 추석날 아침에 일어나 김일성과 김정일의 초상화에 인 사를 드리고North Korean residents get up on the morning of Chuseok and pay their respects to the portraits of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il…p12추석과 같은 명절을 봉건 산재를 뿌리뽑는다는 미명 하에 없애버렸다…abolished holidays such as Chuseok under the pretext of rooting out feudal remnants.p12One defector, from the day he saw a South Korean woman he knew well smoking, stopped treating her as a person and avoided her.
평소 잘 알고 지내던 남한 여자가 담배를 피우는 것을 끄는 그 날부터 그 여자를 사람 취급도 하지 않고 피해 다녔다고 한다…from the day he saw a South Korean woman he had known well smoking, he did not even treat her as a person and avoided her.p13In depth
This paper, more closely — every sentence carries an original quote and page number.
Background
Even in Germany, which unified first, many East Germans saw themselves as “second-class citizens” — psychological rifts remained after political and economic unification.
동독인의 70%가 자신들을 “2등 국빈이라고 생각하고 있고70% of East Germans think of themselves as “second-class citizens”…p1동독인은 아직도 심리적 열등감을 극복하지 못하고 있는 것으로 나타났다…East Germans have still not overcome a psychological sense of inferiority.p1Germany’s experience and the struggles of North Korean defectors in the South lead to the paper’s premise: psychological unification matters as much as political and economic unification.
정치적 경제적 통일 못지 않게 심리적 통일이 중요하다…psychological unification is as important as political and economic unification.p2독일의 사례에서나 귀순자의 적응 실태를 통해 살펴본 것처럼As seen in the German case and in the actual adjustment of defectors…p2Method
Not original fieldwork but a literature review with proposals, drawing on writings on North Korean culture, studies of defectors, and acculturation theory from cross-cultural psychology.
귀순자들의 증언에 의존하는 간접적 방법을 사용하고 있다…use an indirect method that relies on the testimonies of defectors.p3현 시점에서는 직접적인 연구가 거의 불가능한 형편이다…at present, direct research is nearly impossible.p3최근 비교문화심리학에서 연구되고 있는 문화적응에 관해 살펴 볼 필요가 있다…it is necessary to look at acculturation, which is being studied recently in cross-cultural psychology.p161990년 이후 귀순한 21명의 탈북자를 대상으로 심층 면담을 한 전우택과 민성길Jeon Woo-taek and Min Sung-kil, who conducted in-depth interviews with 21 defectors who came over after 1990…p13Detailed findings
In familism centered on the father–son bond, father and son are seen as links joining ancestors and descendants, so a son inheriting his father’s possessions is taken for granted.
아버지와 아들은 과거의 조상과 미래의 자손을 연결하는 연속적인 관계의 한 고리이고…father and son are a link in a continuous chain connecting past ancestors and future descendants…p6이 같은 문화에서는 아버지의 것을 아들이 이어받는 것이 지극히 당연하게 생각된다In such a culture, it is considered entirely natural for the son to inherit what belongs to the father.p6North Korea’s “theory of the Suryeong (수령, the Leader)” casts the leader not as a mere ruler but as an absolute “parent” whose teachings must be obeyed unconditionally.
수령을 단순히 하나의 지배자가 아니라 •절대적인 어버이로 인정함으로써 그의 가르침에 무조건 순종 해야 한다는 것이다…by recognizing the Leader not merely as a ruler but as an absolute parent, his teachings must be obeyed unconditionally.p9North Korea likens the whole country to one huge family, taking the form of a family-state with Kim Il-sung as the “parent.”
북한은 나라 전체를 하나의 거대한 가정으로 비유 하고North Korea likens the entire country to one giant family…p10김일성을 “어버이"로. 정권을 “가장의 개념으로 하는 가족국가적 형태를 띠고 있…takes the form of a family-state with Kim Il-sung as “parent” and the regime as “head of household”…p10The author argues that indoctrination in hatred of “enemies of the people” works better in North Korea than in other communist states because of familism’s collectivism and exclusivity.
가족주의가 가지고 있는 집단성과 배타 성이라는 문화적 토대가 있기 때문에 가능한 것이다…is possible because of the cultural foundation of collectivism and exclusivity that familism has.p11이 같은 사상교육이 다른 공산주의국가에서보다 북한에서 더 큰 효과를 나타내는 것은That such ideological education is more effective in North Korea than in other communist countries…p11In an interview study, defectors showed black-and-white judgment and tended to regard reasonable compromise as cowardly.
합리적 타협을 오히려 비겁한 것으로 간주하고…regarding rational compromise rather as cowardly…p13적절한 타협을 찾기보다는 혹백 논리적인 판단과 태도를 가지고 있다…rather than seeking appropriate compromise, they have black-and-white judgments and attitudes.p13In the same study, defectors tended to hope that others or their group would solve their problems, rather than solving them on their own.
자신의 문제를 스스로의 힘으로 해결 하기보다는 타인이나 자신이 속한 집단이 해결해 주기를 바라는 특징이 있다They tend to want others or the group they belong to to solve their problems, rather than solving them by their own strength.p13A study comparing youth found individualism and liberty more developed among South Korean youth, and collectivism and equality among North Korean youth.
남한 청소년은 개인 주의와 자유사상이 발달되었는데 비해 북한 청소년은 집단주의와 평등사상이 발달되었 다South Korean youth have developed individualism and ideas of freedom, whereas North Korean youth have developed collectivism and ideas of equality.p13If, after unification, the South imposed its own ways on North Koreans as the standard of national sameness, it could spark new conflict rather than restore unity (a cited view).
이것은 동질성의 회복이 아니라 새로운 민족 분쟁과 갈등을 야기 할 수도 있다…this could cause new national disputes and conflict rather than the restoration of homogeneity.p15무조건 자기의 것을 민족-등질성의 지표로 내세우고 이를 북한 주민…unconditionally puts forward its own ways as the standard of national homogeneity and [forces] them on North Korean residents…p15Authors’ interpretation
The first step toward psychological unification is to acknowledge and accept that the two Koreas are, in reality, quite different culturally and psychologically.
남한과 북한 사이에는 현실적으로 문화적 심리적 차원에서 상당히 이질적이라는 점을 인정하고 수용하는 것이다…to acknowledge and accept that South and North Korea are, in reality, considerably heterogeneous in cultural and psychological dimensions.p14The acculturation types — assimilation, integration, separation and marginalization — could serve as a useful model for studying how individuals change after unification.
이러한 문화적응 유형은 통일 이 후 개인 수준에서의 변화 과정을 연구하는 데 유용한 모델이라고 할 수 있을 것이다These acculturation types can be said to be a useful model for studying the process of change at the individual level after unification.p184가지 문화적응 유형, 즉 동화. 통합. 격리. 주변화 중 하나를 선택하게 된다…come to choose one of four acculturation types: assimilation, integration, separation, or marginalization.p18Yet existing acculturation research was built for immigrants entering an unfamiliar mainstream culture, so much of it does not fit the two Koreas with their long shared heritage.
기존의 문화적응에 관한 연구는 우리에게 맞지 않는 면이 많다Existing research on acculturation has many aspects that do not fit us.p19문화적응에 대한 연구는 기본적으로 이민자들이 자신의 기존의 문화와는 다른 새로운 주도적 문화에 편입되어 가는 과정을 연구하기 위해 개발된 개념과 모델일 뿐이다…research on acculturation is basically just a set of concepts and models developed to study how immigrants become incorporated into a new dominant culture different from their own.p19보기 드문 민족적, 문화적 동질성을 유지하고 있는 것도 또한 사실이다…it is also true that they maintain a rare ethnic and cultural homogeneity.p19Limits the authors note
The defector studies underlying the discussion involve too few defectors to represent all North Koreans.
귀순자들은 북한 주민 전체를 대표하기에는 그 숫자가 너무 적다Defectors are too few in number to represent the entire North Korean population.p3By the time they are studied, defectors have already lived in the South for months or years and are likely to have become somewhat “South Koreanized.”
이들이 이미 나름대로 남한화(南韓化)되어 있을 개연 성이 농후하다…it is highly likely that they have already become South Koreanized in their own way.p4이미 남한 사회를 접한 후 수개월. 길게는 수년이 경과한 이후이므로…since several months, or even several years, have already passed after encountering South Korean society…p4Key terms
Acculturation (문화적응) Change in one or both cultures that results from sustained contact between them.
문화와 문화가 지속적으로 접촉함으로써 어느 한 문화에, 혹은 두 문화 모두에 변화를 초래하는 현상을 의미하는…meaning the phenomenon in which continuous contact between cultures brings change to one culture or to both.p16Integration (통합) Keeping one’s own cultural identity while embracing the new culture — rated the most successful type of acculturation.
자기 고유의 문화적 주체성을 유지하면서 새로운 문화 를 수용하는 상태로서 가장 성공척인 적응 유형으로 평가된다…a state of accepting the new culture while maintaining one’s own cultural identity, evaluated as the most successful type of adaptation.p18Theory of the socio-political life-body (사회 정치적 생명체론) A North Korean ideology holding that people have a physical life and a political life, and that while physical life is worthless, socio-political life is eternal.
사람에게는 육체적 생명과 정치적 생명이 있으며. 육체적 생명이 값없는 것인데 반해 사회 정치적 생명은 영원한 것이라는 주장이다…the claim that people have physical life and political life, and that physical life is worthless whereas socio-political life is eternal.p10