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ryenunreads's review
“At the end of the novel [The Square], Yi decides to return neither to the North nor the South but rather to live in a neutral state, a space where empty ideology and brute force do not govern people’s lives. Unable to find such a place, Yi’s only option is to commit suicide. It is an indictment of the two Koreas, where dictatorship and repression of dissent kill the best of the young.”
What I had known about the Korean Peninsula came from undergraduate history requirements and leisurely reading in books like Beasts of a Little Land and Pachinko. My understanding of the divided countries was adequate but incomplete, and Yoo’s book was the perfect remedy for filling those gaps.
Yoo chronicles the tragic missteps that shaped the divergent paths of a once-united peninsula. Even before the end of World War II, the U.S., the Soviet Union, China, and Great Britain discussed the fate of the nation without any Korean leaders present: “… the midwives of the painful birth of two nations from a unified Korea were more concerned with their own Cold War agendas than the fate of the people.”
In its fear of growing communism, the U.S. exerted its influence over the southern region and backed Korean leaders and politicians who were staunchly pro-U.S. and virulently anti-Communist / anti-leftist. Most of these individuals had been Japanese collaborators and/or part of the old colonial police, which meant that Korean liberation was essentially meaningless.
To the North, however, communist and former anti-Japanese guerilla fighter Kim Il Sung was selected as leader. His consequent agrarian reforms, land redistribution policies, and ideology of juche, or self-reliance, actually propelled the North to exceed the South’s economic development until the early 1970s.
Nonetheless, both Koreas suffered under brutal regimes. While the South was celebrated as a bastion of democracy and freedom, free from communist rule, military dictatorships, corrupt leaders that curried cronyism, and policies that essentially gave American troops free reign over the region, its people, especially dissidents and progressive students, suffered extreme human rights abuses. While South Korea finally elected its first civilian president in 1993, the country still suffers from traumatic memories inflicted by earlier military regimes. Coupled with mass divides in income and class inequality, South Korea is still healing from the scars of its past.
Likewise, North Korea, while enjoying a strong reputation among developing nations up until the late 70s, as well as a self-reliant ideology that shielded the country from Western imperialism, also cracked down its dissidents in equal brutality. Its emphasis on military also spelled disaster for civilians when a devastating famine struck the region, starving and killing thousands. The Norther regime event went so far as to criminalize acts of hunger and justified the famine as “The arduous marching [against imperialism].” Up until this day, however, little is known about the region apart from accounts from defectors and glimpses on social media.
Lengthy, thorough, and multifaceted, Yoo’s The Koreas is perfect for anyone looking to understand just how these two countries diverged and the repeated attempts to seek reconciliation. While Yoo also discusses collective traumas both regions have endured, he also touches upon popular culture like K-Pop, food and cuisine, and plastic surgery that has been instrumental in sparking global frenzies about Korean culture and people.
Yoo also takes time to detail the plight of Korean orphans, diasporic populations in Asia and Europe, refugees and migrant workers in the shadow of prosperity, mix-raced individuals, competition in student life and employment, gender disparities, loaded geopolitical relations with countries like Japan, and the insidious roles that countries like the United States play in Korean politics. Collectively, these examples and examinations help explain how and why the nation(s) have developed and evolved the way they have.
Perhaps what is most tragic about this book is the sheer length in which the Korean people have been exposed to almost constant war, division, and trauma. Korea is one of the last divided countries in the world and is a reminder of the ugly legacy of Cold War politics.
As Yoo concludes, “On both sides of the border a new generation of millennials has grown up without having witnessed the traumatic civil war firsthand or having pined after kin on the other side of the 38th parallel… They will be the new caretakers of both nations. Will they call for reunification and light the lamp to illuminate the East through peace and reconciliation?”
What I had known about the Korean Peninsula came from undergraduate history requirements and leisurely reading in books like Beasts of a Little Land and Pachinko. My understanding of the divided countries was adequate but incomplete, and Yoo’s book was the perfect remedy for filling those gaps.
Yoo chronicles the tragic missteps that shaped the divergent paths of a once-united peninsula. Even before the end of World War II, the U.S., the Soviet Union, China, and Great Britain discussed the fate of the nation without any Korean leaders present: “… the midwives of the painful birth of two nations from a unified Korea were more concerned with their own Cold War agendas than the fate of the people.”
In its fear of growing communism, the U.S. exerted its influence over the southern region and backed Korean leaders and politicians who were staunchly pro-U.S. and virulently anti-Communist / anti-leftist. Most of these individuals had been Japanese collaborators and/or part of the old colonial police, which meant that Korean liberation was essentially meaningless.
To the North, however, communist and former anti-Japanese guerilla fighter Kim Il Sung was selected as leader. His consequent agrarian reforms, land redistribution policies, and ideology of juche, or self-reliance, actually propelled the North to exceed the South’s economic development until the early 1970s.
Nonetheless, both Koreas suffered under brutal regimes. While the South was celebrated as a bastion of democracy and freedom, free from communist rule, military dictatorships, corrupt leaders that curried cronyism, and policies that essentially gave American troops free reign over the region, its people, especially dissidents and progressive students, suffered extreme human rights abuses. While South Korea finally elected its first civilian president in 1993, the country still suffers from traumatic memories inflicted by earlier military regimes. Coupled with mass divides in income and class inequality, South Korea is still healing from the scars of its past.
Likewise, North Korea, while enjoying a strong reputation among developing nations up until the late 70s, as well as a self-reliant ideology that shielded the country from Western imperialism, also cracked down its dissidents in equal brutality. Its emphasis on military also spelled disaster for civilians when a devastating famine struck the region, starving and killing thousands. The Norther regime event went so far as to criminalize acts of hunger and justified the famine as “The arduous marching [against imperialism].” Up until this day, however, little is known about the region apart from accounts from defectors and glimpses on social media.
Lengthy, thorough, and multifaceted, Yoo’s The Koreas is perfect for anyone looking to understand just how these two countries diverged and the repeated attempts to seek reconciliation. While Yoo also discusses collective traumas both regions have endured, he also touches upon popular culture like K-Pop, food and cuisine, and plastic surgery that has been instrumental in sparking global frenzies about Korean culture and people.
Yoo also takes time to detail the plight of Korean orphans, diasporic populations in Asia and Europe, refugees and migrant workers in the shadow of prosperity, mix-raced individuals, competition in student life and employment, gender disparities, loaded geopolitical relations with countries like Japan, and the insidious roles that countries like the United States play in Korean politics. Collectively, these examples and examinations help explain how and why the nation(s) have developed and evolved the way they have.
Perhaps what is most tragic about this book is the sheer length in which the Korean people have been exposed to almost constant war, division, and trauma. Korea is one of the last divided countries in the world and is a reminder of the ugly legacy of Cold War politics.
As Yoo concludes, “On both sides of the border a new generation of millennials has grown up without having witnessed the traumatic civil war firsthand or having pined after kin on the other side of the 38th parallel… They will be the new caretakers of both nations. Will they call for reunification and light the lamp to illuminate the East through peace and reconciliation?”
itschlve's review
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
very good comparative research and very well written - making it very accessible to anyone imo
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