ABSTRACT
With economic and social disparities between the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea growing by the year, it is hard to consider how they might ever again be perceived as a single whole. For a culture which traditionally placed an emphasis on genealogical continuity, the disintegrated communities and political groups brought about by each legitimacy-seeking postcolonial nascent state pursuing ideological control of the people was devastating on both a physical and existential level. This chapter explores the creation of Korea’s political identity, ideational political divergence in the late twentieth century (particularly through the lens of South Korea’s democratization movements and resistance to continued authoritarian rule), the use of symbols as politically charged tools in inter-Korean discussions, and the possibilities and implications for a unified Korean politics in the future. It hopes to provide considerable insight by adopting a genealogical methodological approach and demonstrate that, from an ideational perspective, what was once held to be one has since become (at least) two. It suggests that the resultant division of consciousness might be as important to tackle before, or at least alongside, the issues of physical separation and economic disparity.
