North Korea is enhancing the authenticity of regime maintenance of system by reflecting governing ideology in cultural heritage policy, e.g., highlighting the historic revolutionary sites of Kim Ilsung and Kim Jungil over historic cultural heritage an...
North Korea is enhancing the authenticity of regime maintenance of system by reflecting governing ideology in cultural heritage policy, e.g., highlighting the historic revolutionary sites of Kim Ilsung and Kim Jungil over historic cultural heritage and politically trying to restore and excavate specific cultural heritage. Further, the discourse on cultural heritage is connected to nationalism discourses depending on the situation of age in North Korea, because cultural heritage operates as a significant factor in including the symbolism of a national and cohering the group.
This study analyzed correlation of cultural heritage policy depending on the change in discourse of such governing ideology & nationalism of North Korea. For study, the period was divided into 5 periods per governing ideology officially presented by each regime based on transition term of regime of North Korea. Then, the cultural heritage policy implemented in each period was investigated to draw relation & characteristics of governing ideology and nationalism in order to grasp the comprehension & tendency of cultural heritage policy of North Korea.
Immediately after liberation, North Korea mainly implemented the policy for maintenance·reparation of cultural heritage destroyed by Japanese Imperialism. As North Korea gradually instilled the ideology of socialism into people instead of exposing political trend it the initial stage of establishing government, the case where the ideology of socialism was directly reflected to cultural heritage was hardly seen.
Later, as the regime of Kim Ilsung was definitely established and he became the only power in North Korea, cultural heritage was used as the means of ideological education of North Koreans through cultural heritage policy on the basis of governing ideology.
Since 1980s', the system of socialism state collapsed worldwide and the system was jeopardized by the pressure of capitalism state. Then, North Korea utilized cultural heritage as means to enhance the authenticity of regime & legitimacy of party policy as well as loyalty to Kim Ilsung in order to overcome the situation. Thus, the cultural heritage policy of North Korea was gradually deteriorated to policy intending to keep and advocate the power and system of Kim Ilsung and his successor, Kim Jungil.
As stated above, the closed policy met limit as outside culture and information flowed even into North Korea in modern society. Further, as the atmosphere of South and North Korea became amicable, the cultural heritage policy of North Korea was stretched to the direction of emphasizing the nationality.
Such tendency still remains. Unlike some study which states that the cultural heritage policy which emphasizes nationality may lead to closing policy, North Korea recently pushed forward actively the business of inscription of UNESCO world heritage & intangible cultural heritage and implemented cooperative business with foreign countries including cooperative business with South Korea related to cultural heritage. Thus, it is enforcing cultural heritage policy which is opener than before.
According to this study, North Korea is found to have established governing ideology and enforced the relevant cultural heritage policy for maintenance of political regime and the succession of power rather than utopia toward to socialism state as time elapses. However, cultural heritage policy of North Korea showed visible alteration as 2000s' began. Especially, the political regime of Kim Jungeun became flexible from governing ideology as it protected intangible cultural heritage which was opposite to existing historical materialism by legislating the intangible cultural heritage. It is thought that the analysis of such change in cultural heritage policy of North Korea may present a lot of suggestion points to the study of direction of exchange & cooperation of South and North as well as the policy and program for unification.