남북한 대립 상징의 구조와 변화 = The Structure of Antagonistic Symbol between South and North Korea and its Change

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Today`s symbolic confrontations between North and South Korea show well the history of the division of the Korean peninsula. The most deep-rooted of these confrontations can be found at the Seoul National Cemetery (Gungnip Seoul Hyeonchungweon) and the Yeol Sa Reung in North Korea. These places, wherein those of the South and North who stood against one another as enemies on the front lines of battle have been laid to rest, serve to bolster the separate identities of the northern and southern governments. Nowadays, although common, everyday symbols in Korea show a growing tendency toward reconciliation and tolerance, when it comes to those places which serve as symbols of the separate identities of the North and South, reconciliation still seems to be long in coming. This kind of symbolic confrontation, moreover, cannot be diffused by the usual efforts of exchange and reconciliation it rather requires a greater consciousness of purpose in such efforts. A North Korean delegation`s visit to the National Cemetery in 2005, therefore, became a symbolic act for North and South Korea even though it lasted for only a very short time. It sparked the taking up of a long journey away from the painful past and toward reconciliation as well as a shared Korean future of one. Reconciliatory communal symbols between the two Koreas already exist however, there is as of yet no symbol among these that allows North and South Korea to accept each other`s identity. Up to the present, North and South Korea have regarded each other with hostility if Koreans cannot learn to accept one another and reconcile differences concerning the past events in which their mutual antagonism is rooted, it will be impossible for Korea to maintain the communal symbols which they have established thus far. Fortunately, we have just started becoming reconciliatory towards the past.