미래와 역사 사이: 대한민국역사박물관 설립과 그 성격

초록

The planning of the ‘National Museum of the Republic of Korea’ was started in 2008, in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Korea. It was proclaimed that this national museum would act as the central hall of the history of the Republic of Korea. Nevertheless, the path toward its establishment was not a smooth one. After vacillations between the ‘Korean National Museum’ and the ‘National Museum of the Republic of Korea,’ the latter was finally chosen. While the ‘Korean National Museum’ had been envisioned as a futuristic exhibition hall, the ‘National Museum of the Republic of Korea’ was expected to function as a representative museum of Korean history. After being pulled back and forth between the future and history, the characteristic of the ‘National Museum of the Republic of Korea’, the English name being changed later during the preparatory stage to the ‘National Museum of Korean Contemporary History’, had been settled in an emphasis on history. After the ‘Committee for the Founding of the National Museum of the Republic of Korea’ was set up in 2009, it took as little as three years and six months for the museum to officially open in December of 2012. Furthermore, civic groups voiced continuous concern over the right wing deviation of the personnel involved in the museum. The marks of ‘rough-and-readiness’ and ‘political bias’ are what can be called the ‘scarlet letter’ attached to the ‘National Museum of Contemporary Korean History’ by the civil society during throughout the museum’s establishment. Looking at how the museum’s exhibitions are composed, which can be summed up as ‘high modernism’ and ‘Korean(Han)-centrism,’ such scarlet letter seems hardly undeserved. This reflects the failure on the part of the museum to dispel the civil society’s mistrust by actively seeking communication and collecting diverse opinions during the planning process. There is an urgent need for the museum to open itself up to the civil society for an improved communication. In the end, the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History would fulfill its duty by becoming a museum of Korean modern and contemporary history, post-colonial history, and post-cold war future.

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