Korean ethnic nationalism
Korean ethnic nationalism (Korean: 한국의 민족주의), or Korean racial nationalism,[2] is a political ideology and a form of ethnic and racial identity for Korean people. It is based on the belief that Koreans form a nation, a race, and an ethnic group that shares a unified bloodline and a distinct culture.[3] It is centered on the notion of the minjok (Korean: 민족; Hanja: 民族), a term that had been coined in Imperial Japan ("minzoku") in the early Meiji period. Minjok has been translated as "nation", "people", "ethnic group", "race", and "race-nation".[4][5][6][7] It has been described by several observers as racist, chauvinist, and ethnosupremacist.[8][9][10][11]
"Korean race" redirects here. For the Korean people themselves, see Koreans.
This conception started to emerge among Korean intellectuals after the Japanese-imposed protectorate of 1905, leading to Korea's colonization by Japan.[12] The Japanese then tried to persuade the Koreans that both nations were of the same racial stock to assimilate them, similar to what they did with the Ainu and Ryukyuans. The notion of the Korean minjok was first made popular by essayist and historian Shin Chae-ho 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.[13] 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.[14]
The concept has continued to be relevant after the colonial period. In the 1960s, South Korean president Park Chung Hee strengthened "an ideology of racial purity" to legitimize his authoritarian rule.[15]
This shared conception of a racially defined Korea continues to shape Korean politics and foreign relations, gives Koreans an impetus to national and racial pride,[16] and feeds hopes for the reunification of the two Koreas.[17] In recent decades, statistics has showed that South Korea is becoming an increasingly multi-ethnic society.[18] As a result, discussions have continued to be held both abroad and in Korea on the topics of race and multi-culturalism.[19][18]
