South Korea Political Analysis

Improved Essays
The field covering politics implies that ultimately, social and economic factors are largely dependent on the changing political atmosphere. To elaborate, South Korea’s transition to a liberal democracy and the liberalization of its cinema eventually led to a changing view of its Northern counterparts, since the people became more open to trying to approach North Korea. One facet of the political history focus is arguing that what drives the change in South Korean perceptions is that they are trying to bury the Cold War rhetoric that drove them to cut off ties with North Korea. Thus, they are now trying to reach out to the North. However, sources that focus on the social side of the conflict argue that the defining facet of the South Korea’s film and political history is essentially the South Korean desire to create a distinct …show more content…
Scholars such as Suk Young Kim in “Crossing the Border ton the ‘Other’ Side,” (2007) argue that sympathetic portrayals of North Koreans are a result of the people’s desire to help the North Korean people escape their oppressive regime, hinting at human rights activists in South Korea influencing sympathetic portrayals in film. This is more reflective in the scholarship of the 2010’s due to viral internet media attention garnered toward North Korean defectors who become activists and writers in hopes of raising awareness to the situation in North Korea, who have reached high levels of popularity within South Korea. However, Kim and Kyung Hyun Kim in the chapter “Mea Culpa” in the book Virtual Hallyu (2011) both agree that North Korean characters, whether painted in a positive or negative light, are typically one-dimensional, either villain or victim, with little dynamic throughout the films, often allowing the South Korean characters to show more complexity in

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    One of the most trending topics in all of the media is Kim Jong-Un and North Korea. This is for good reason, as there are many ideas to report, like how Kim Jong-Un and North Korea’s government has made its country dystopian-like. When analyzing how the government of North Korea makes decisions that creates a dystopian society among their citizens, one can evaluate what changes Kim Jong-Un made that was so influencing and controlling that their country became dystopian, determine the specific impacts this change or these changes have on their nation’s or another nation’s people, and comprehend the various genres of literature be used as a proactive tool in educating people about dystopian societies and progression toward equality. Because no…

    • 1085 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Recently, the leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) ordered his military prepared for the nuclear strike, and they are making a nuclear threat to the world again. The world would not be peaceful if a nuclear threat again appeared in this world. Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is also known as North Korea is an international byword for isolationism, autonomy and antagonism. Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has isolated itself from the rest of the world for more than 50 years. In Park Yong-Soo’s article “The political economy of economic reform in North Korea”, he claims that “North Korea has undergone an unprecedented economic crisis, which began in the early 1990s.…

    • 1560 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    North Korean Economy

    • 1790 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Daily Life of North Korea Under a Centrally Planned Economy Throughout reading the book Nothing To Envy Ordinary - Lives In North Korea Barbara Demick depicts the everyday lives that go on in the regime that has been created under North Korean communist power. The book shows many of the economic factors that took place in the beginning and current state of North Korea. With the extreme government regulation that North Koreans experience, there is a lack of basic human rights, poverty, and overall economic freedom. With most of the world establishing a capitalist system North Korea found itself in an economic struggle with a lack of exports leading to an increase in poverty that ruins their country and well being.…

    • 1790 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It is well known that North Korea’s government is very different than the United States’, but it was not always this way. After World War II, the Korean peninsula was divided into North and South; Kim Il-sung came in to power. He started to make a “cult of personality” around him and his family, so that people would worship him. The government replaced the previous religions—like Buddhism and Confucianism; they filled the peoples’ heads with corrupted ideas and concepts.…

    • 1046 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Kim Yu-jong’s “The white rabbit” and Park Won-so’s “Mother’s hitching post” were written in different historical backgrounds; “The white rabbit” has a setting of Japanese colonial period and “Mother’s hitching post” has a setting of the Korean war. However, the two stories express one common theme, which is the pain of Koreans. In his story, “The white rabbit”, Kim Yu-jong describes the pain of Koreans who felt powerless due to their loss of nationality under Japan’s colonization. In Park Won-so’s story “Mother’s hitching post”, she portrays the pain of Koreans who had confusion of national identity and trauma of losing family regarding the division of the country.…

    • 1038 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The biography describes how North Korea’s caste system plays a part in the government’s views on human life, separating the citizens into distinct classes. This was created by Kim Il Sung “to identify and isolate his perceived political enemies” (34). Those suspected of opposing the government were placed in the hostile class, the lowest of the caste system. Consequently, their living conditions are worse compared to the other classes, their rights are limited, and they are for the most part neglected by the country. They are scorned by the North Korean government because their lineage is not as favoured as those of the higher classes.…

    • 1378 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Through Hazel Smith’s book North Korea, Markets and Military Rule, she logically sees North Korea by using factual numbers. Unlike Hazel Smith, by contrast, Suzy Kim directly refers to changes of everyday life in North Korea, or their autobiographies in order to see North Korea. This is one of the big differences between two books. In Chapter 1, Hazel Smith points out that most people are controlled by conventional wisdom even though it has little evidence to prove if it is true. She says that people in North Korea are both villains victims.…

    • 152 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    North Korea Analysis

    • 862 Words
    • 4 Pages

    David Ignatius’s article “North Korea, Our Next Big Worry” uses an argumentative and expository writing strategy to convey the importance of Americans being aware of the issues with a nuclear North Korea. This objective is strengthened by the author’s concerned and informative tone. Ignatius’s audience is broad as his article is directed towards Americans, voters in America, and people around the world. With the use of a clear and logical pattern of organization, argumentative appeals, and a broad array of reasoning methods, Ignatius effectively exposes the critical problem with North Korea having nuclear weapons and discusses the actions that should be taken to resolve or reduce these issues. Using an argumentative and expository writing…

    • 862 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In his article ‘The Path to Sokkuram’, Robert Hass develops the idea that reality is subjective in nature, and something that is sometimes based more on the overriding feelings and opinions of large groups of people than on an impartial analysis of the situation. Hass illustrates this through examples of various groups of people in Korea and the political ideologies they subscribe to, which he compares and contrasts with his own creeds. In psychology, the projective hypothesis suggests that the way a person interprets a neutral stimulus is based on what’s occurring in their mind at the time, which is why it’s possible for something like a Rorschach test or a Thematic Appreciation Test to be interpreted to mean many different things to different people. When Hass visits the giant Buddha, he finds it overwhelmingly peaceful, and imagines it to be focusing on that peace, and on freedom. After a while, he notices a sign that says that the Buddha is actually guarding the Silla kingdom from marauding Japanese pirates.…

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Propaganda In 1984

    • 193 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Propaganda is a very effective tool for keeping people in line, and as a result, some governments, especially totalitarian ones, use propaganda to maintain total control over others. Oceania, in 1984, written by George Orwell, and North Korea, in Nothing to Envy, written by Barbara Demick, are able to keep their citizens quietly obedient, the countries isolated, and the climate hostile by deftly spreading exaggerated information to belittle other people. The governments of Oceania and North Korea use different types of propaganda to convey messages that help the images of the rulers and keep the people at peace with the government. Broadcasters in North Korea would “speak of Kim Il-Sung or Kim Jong-Il breathlessly and [carry] tales of supernatural…

    • 193 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Camp 14 Comparison

    • 842 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Chapter one only increases these same emotions tenfold. Even though North Korea and its leaders are also in desperate need of help, it is not okay to treat its people, especially those in the labor camps, in such a thoughtless way. In addition to the unavoidable hunger, automation-like beings have replaced the people of North Korea. Devoid of much humanity, these beings do not understand the importance of family nor have they actually loved someone -- it is a sad situation to be in. (“1.…

    • 842 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The investigation, analyzing and investigating the difference in the Korea's economy and society, will try to answer the question: How did the United States of America's involvement in the turnout of Korean affairs mold the way that Korea is today ? The primary sources that will be evaluated for the use of this investigation will be, The Korean War by Max Hastings, and The Coldest Winter, by David Halberstam. In The Korean War, Max, an American soldier voices his thoughts and opinions of the different directions Korea's took. The Coldest Winter however provides insight to the events that led up to the results of the Korean War.…

    • 1775 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the case of South Korea, the dominant depiction of liberation as “collective effervescence” effectively erases contradictory reactions from pro-Japanese collaborators from the collective memory of liberation. On the contrary, in the case of North Korea, the removal of any historical depiction of the era that deviates from the regime’s official narratives equally hinders the later generations from having a more accurate, multifaceted view of history.…

    • 572 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Contemporary South Korea is often regarded as a cultural and economic hub within the world, but it is important to acknowledge the extensive history of South Korea that has been decorated by violence, corruption, and social disparity. Enduring foreign powers controlling institutional forces, a turbulent war against North Korea, two military regimes, and an intense financial crisis, the past century within South Korea has molded its population to quickly adapt to social, economic, and institutional changes. This history, having shaped the culture that inhabits South Korea, has been reflected in the films that are produced by South Korean directors. Many of the films utilize characters who have been effected by a traumatic past that continues…

    • 1498 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Since its inception under the Kim regime, North Korea has been known to the world as an oppressive militaristic state that threatens to bring the world to its knees. This paper will be focused on the film The Propaganda Game (2015), directed and produced by Spanish film director Álvaro Longoria. During the time the film was being recorded, sanctions were placed on North Korea by the United States after North Korea cyber hacked Sony Entertainment over the film, The Interview. The Propaganda Game is a documentary that includes Longoria short visit to North Korea which includes interviews of citizens, North Korean news and propaganda, and a tour by Alejandro Cao de Benós. Longoria traveled to North Korea to prove that the propaganda being…

    • 1014 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays