After the First World War, the discourse on ``modern woman`` rapidly spread all over Korea. It started from criticizing the traditional value of the concept of women. This new discourse aimed at destroying old images of women and tried to construct a ...
After the First World War, the discourse on ``modern woman`` rapidly spread all over Korea. It started from criticizing the traditional value of the concept of women. This new discourse aimed at destroying old images of women and tried to construct a new one based on liberty, love and modern knowledge. In short, it attempted to build a new ego of woman. Accompanied by this new discourse, the sexuality of Korean women was remoulded. In the past, the virtue of woman was to hide their beauty and power. But modern discourse encouraged to reveal their beauty and power. This new modern woman w a s much appreciated by man and she played the role of Ego-Ideal of Korean Woman. It is natural that the discourse about modern woman gave some forceful impact on Korean mentality. In this respect, I argue that the. Modernity in Korea was introduced by the discourse on modern woman.