‘비대칭상황’ - 변화하는 한국 민족주의를 이해하기 위한 몇가지 조건

초록

There is unmistakable evidence of the adverse effects of modern capitalism in Korea, such as the excessive growth of ‘surplus population’ and consequent ‘human waste’, as well as the country’s rapid transition into a multicultural society. The multicultural trait appears to have a great potential for establishing new orders and hierarchies within Korean nationalism. With the effects of the cold war still lingering on the peninsula, North Korea’s ‘identity politics’ have led to large numbers of famine-driven refugees, some of whom have resettled in South Korea. And as South Korea is becoming increasingly multicultural, North Korean defectors serve as fillers of gaps within the hierarchies of South Korean society. In this global age characterized by mass migration, will long-distance nationalism founded on migration take root? Considering the patterns of change in Korean nationalism in the past, there is a chance that its hierarchies and exclusiveness may be reinforced in line with the multicultural and multi-social developments. Regardless of the shape this transformation may take, it is unlikely to resemble what has generally been considered long-distance nationalism. During this interregnum when the power of the nation-state was greatly challenged, the specific changes in nationalism depend largely on how the ‘return of society’ is achieved in spaces that deviate from the nation-state. As we increasingly find ourselves in a situation of asymmetric transitional age, we’re faced with the important task of envisioning a prospect beyond the nation. In terms of the nation-state, the key may lie in restoring the role of society or the return of society, while in terms of the region, the emergence of ‘empire’ and its shared universality might provide an answer.

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