The aim of this study is to analyze the Park Chung-hee Regime's ruling discourse. The eighteen years of the Park Chung-hee regime were of critical in the nation-building in Korea. The construction of national economy through the industrialization, the...
The aim of this study is to analyze the Park Chung-hee Regime's ruling discourse. The eighteen years of the Park Chung-hee regime were of critical in the nation-building in Korea. The construction of national economy through the industrialization, the establishment of modern administrative system and the formation of political confrontation structure focusing on democracy were closely related to the nation-building process. Specifically, the process of nation-state building was that of making the national subject. Therefore, the ruling discourse was closely related to the process of making national subject. The nation-state building and the making the national subject were began the post-Korean war period, in 1950s, but they had not regular styles until the era of Park Chung-hee regime.
Park Chung-hee regime had used modernization discourse as its critical ruling discourse. Shortly after the 5;16 coup d'etat, Park's regime did not adopted the modernization discourse as its ruling discourse. In the its early days, Park's regime proclaimed the so called 'revolution discourse'. But in 1963, there were draw close to the presidential election, Park's regime had started to point out the modernization discourse. The modernization discourse was invented by American academics in 1950s. and the Kennedy adminstration adopted the modernization discourse as its foreign policy. Under the powerful influence of the Kennedy adminstration, the Park Chung-hee regime chose the modernization discourse as its ruling discourse. The intellectual groups and the Park Chung-hee regime formed the discourse alliance as a intermediation of modernization discourse. And then a kind of ‥knowledge-power… regime was formed.
The Park Chung-hee Regime's modernization discourse was distinguished into two dimensions. The one was ‥ex-backwardness modernization discourse…(EBMD), and the other was ‥non-western modernization discourse…(NWMD). In 1960s, ex-backwardness modernization discourse played important role, and thereafter non-western modernization discourse taken a hegemony. But two discourses were reiterated at the same times and had closely mutual relation.
EBMD took a hegemony in the process of the diffusion of the backwardness discourse. In the mid and late of 1950s, the backwardness discourse which included poverty discourse as its core content began to spread out by the intellectual elite group. Under the strong influence of the advance country-backward country composition which was substituted for the empire-colony composition after the world war II, the Backwardness discourse had great influence on the korean society. From the April Revolution to the 5;16 coup d'etat, backwardness discourse was spread out to every spheres-economics, politics, culture etc. and it was the background of the formation of Park's ruling discourse.
The backwardness discourse was articulated with the orientalism-occidentalism composition. The orient which was represented as the feminine-childish passivity, mysterious spiritualism, backwardness and barbarism by the west was the other of the west which was represented as the owner of the masculine positiveness, real rationalism and civilization. It seemed that most of elite intellectuals accepted the orientalism-occidentalism composition and pursued to the modernization strategy based on this composition in Park's era. Therefore, the west became the ideal society that Korea should imitate. It was a strategy that tried to form the dynamics of modernization through the complex to the west.
The problamatic of spritualism which shared both of Park's regime and anti-Park clique was the typical example to show the influence of the orientalism-occidentalism composition. The spirit of the orient in contrast to the west was considered as an instrument to catch up the material abundance of the west. At the same times, it was a remedy for the western materialism. In fact, the spirit were nothing but the translation of Weber's the protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism.
Modernization discourse had a close relation to nationalism and democracy. Nationalism had a strong influence on the post-colonial society, which was emphasized by the Rostow's modernization discourse. In this context, Park's regime utilized nationalism as the dynamism of the modernization discourse. The combination of nationalism and developmental discourse could be possible through modernization discourse. The nationalism of Park's regime not only put the stress on an organic nation but also the nation as living community. The latter was a strategy to match up the highly developed social division of labor as the result of industrialization.
EBMD was linked with NWMD. The latter was a response against the intensification of the new social antagonism and class struggle caused by industrialization. It tried to seam social conflict with nationalism. In NWMD, the western value was divided into two dimensions. The one was liberalism and individualism, the other was collectivism and technical modernity. Park's regime criticized the former and adopted the latter. Furthermore they tried to represent the latter as the value which had been preoccupied in the national tradition, and pursued modernization without westernization. In other words, the modernization of Park's regime did not mean westernization but the representation of the national glory in the past.
NWMD combined with nationalism emphasized national subjectivity. But it seemed that it was not post-colonial project because of it was a nation building project based on the western modernity. Because it was a strategy to overcome the complex to the western modernity through the non-western modernization. It was not negation of western modernity but imitation.
Democracy was modified by modernization discourse's influence. Because of cold war, influence of USA, division of Korea and anti communism, democracy had being settled as a dominant discourse, institution and value in Korea. Therefore, Park Chung-hee regime could not deny democracy in public. But they tried to appropriate democracy their own way. Liberal democracy was divided into liberal aspect and democratic. Park's regime criticized the former and tried to appropriate the latter. While they inclined to interpret popular sovereignty as a nationalism and collectivist perspective, they criticized liberalism and individualism as a cause to provoke the crisis of western democracy. These logics resulted in Yusin regime and emphasis on Korean democracy. Although Park's regime approved the universality of democracy, they aimed to modify and reconstruct it because of the particularity of Korea.
Anti-Park bloc which interpreted democracy as a method to protect the human rights resisted the logic of Park's regime. Park's regime was confronted with various resistance. Especially after the proclamation of Yusin regime in 1972, Chaeya, intelligentsia, religious world and student groups strengthened their resistance. Anti-Park bloc insisted on the approval of universal democracy unconditionally. The composition of democracy and anti-democracy was the most important discourse confrontation in the 1970s.
Park's regime tried to use nationalism and democracy as its ruling discourse especially emphasizing modernization discourse. The resistance movement led by elite intellectuals did not deny modernity-nationalism, modernization. Since the Kanghwado Compact, civilization and modernization had been a dominant value and discourse in Korea. Park's regime was in the same line with that discourse. Therefore the era of Park's regime was the epoch of capitalistic industrialization and nation-building in Korea. At the same time, the era raised the problem of colonialism and orientalism-occidentalism composition.