Newsletter

Editor's Note: The 2014 ASKA (Association for the Studies of Koreans Abroad) Fall Conference, sponsored by the NAHF, was held in Yonsei University on September 26. This conference gathered together overseas Koreans living in countries around the world for the discussion of the 'direction of the global Korean community.' Hong, Myeon-ki, Director of the Office of Policy Planning at the NAHF, met with Professor Park Kwang-seong for an interview, discussing the challenge facing Korea in embracing multiple cultures in the global age, and the overseas Koreans' roles and perspectives in the reunification of Korea.

Q Hong Myeon-ki What is the significance of this conference?

A Park Kwang-seong Scholars raised in different social environments, such as Korea, China, the United States, and Mongolia, and with diverse academic backgrounds participated and gave presentations on a variety of research topics. As you can see, ASKA is a venue for exchange among active Korean scholars from all over the world. If ASKA expanded its research topics now confined to the Korean to include minority-related social science topics, thereby enabling Koreans to come up with creative ideas, ASKA would become an important channel for making global contributions as a true global network. Another important significance lies in the topic 'historical and cultural networks.' Transnational network research in the international community is focused primarily on social and economic networks, but it will have to broaden its horizons and move toward research focused on history and culture.

Q Hong Myeon-ki In a sense, this conference is a closed-door meeting because it gathers together overseas Koreans only. Isn't it ironic to discuss open networks here?

A Park Kwang-seong Overseas Koreans have a common cultural denominator, but since they live in different social environments and have different life trajectories, you will find them amazingly diverse once you actually meet them. By contrast, Korea, although an open country that admits diversity, is very closed and homogeneous in thinking to the eyes of overseas Koreans. The overseas Koreans group characterized by diversity has value in its potential to help Korea overcome these limitations of closed-mindedness and homogeneity. And networks cannot be created without a medium. In this sense, oversea Koreans are important links in creating the global network of Korea.

Q Hong Myeon-ki What kind of policies do you think are needed to help Korean society develop the ability to embrace multiple cultures?

A Park Kwang-seong I understand that as foreigners living in Korea have increased in number, there has been a discourse on multiple cultures, and the Korean government is also pushing ahead with related policies. In fact, however, most of them are integration policies that attempt to 'Koreanize' foreigners rather than polices for the creation of an environment conducive to the development of multiple cultures in Korean society. To Korea with a small domestic market, expanding its world markets is extremely important, and attracting talents raised in diverse backgrounds into the country is also necessary. To attract overseas talents, it is necessary to create conditions in which they can live. To this end, it is necessary for Korean society to establish genuine 'multi-cultural policies.' When it becomes possible for diverse cultures to blossom in Korea, the Korean people's ability to embrace multiple cultures will improve naturally, and Korea will be inspired by new intellectual stimulation.

Q Hong Myeon-ki Where in Korea-China relations can the Korean historical and cultural networks contribute?

A Park Kwang-seong The history of mankind has both bright and dark sides. The dark history hiding in time needs to be brought up again so that we can reflect on it and make sure not to make the same mistake ever again. Therefore, mankind should collectively reflect on and repent of the past wrongdoing regardless of who was to blame. Any group trying to hide and justify it in anyway possible simply because it was done by its ancestors only shows that the group's intellect hasn't evolved and matured enough. Korea and China also need to take universal approaches, in terms of reflecting on and repenting of the 'evils' of history, instead of taking nationalistic approaches to addressing the issues. The overseas Koreans group can work with the peoples of the countries of their residence in exposing the atrocities committed by militarist Japan, and play certain roles in international solidarity to prevent historical tragedies from happening again through solidarity with conscientious intellectuals.

Q Hong Myeon-ki One of Korea's urgent challenges of the times is reunification. What political and economic roles can overseas Koreans be expected to play in the process of reunification?

A Park Kwang-seong Reunification is basically the matter of North and South Korea. The question of what roles overseas Koreans can play in the process of reunification is less important than the question of whether the North and the South have true vision or determination to realize reunification. 'Overseas Koreans are important assets for reunification' is a discourse that frequently appears in the discussions of Korean society. Before advancing the discussion about this discourse, it is necessary for Korean society to give some serious thought to what 'important assets for reunification' really are.

As for the roles of the Korean Chinese, they have continued to do what they could so far as circumstances permitted. The Korean Chinese entrepreneurs in China doing business with North Korea also do business with South Korea. They often serve as brokers of commodity trade between the two Koreas. Also on the cultural front, Korean Chinese entertainers are active in South Korea and they also collaborate with North Korea. The overseas Koreans' role is to make paths for economic and cultural exchange at non-governmental levels. Broader passages should be made by North and South Korea themselves.

Q Hong Myeon-ki There are concerns that the Korean Chinese community in Northeast China have been recently falling apart. What is the cause and solution?

A Park Kwang-seong The Korean Chinese community has gone through drastic changes over the past two decades. Imagine that people in the same neighborhood have been scattered and relocated in Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo, New York, Moscow, and Paris in the space of twenty years. What a sea change! It is this background that led to the claims that 'the Korean Chinese community is being hollowed out and falling apart." But these claims need to be subjected to more detailed analysis. First of all, consider 'what is being hollowed out.' It is the farming villages as traditional residential areas that are being hollowed out. It is common around the world that farming villages are hollowed out in the process of industrialization and urbanization. Then this may raise questions like "If the farming villages are hollowed out, will the national community fall apart?" or "Is it impossible to maintain the national community in cities?" But nowhere in the world is any ethnic minority group with time-honored cultural traditions that has been deemed to have fallen apart because of urban life. The real question we have to ask ourselves that has global relevance is how to socially integrate diverse national groups in urban settings. The Korean Chinese were late in joining urbanization, but their urbanization tends to be global and is creating a new paradigm known as 'transnational urbanization.' Therefore, what will become of the Korean Chinese is a question that no one can expect to answer easily.

Q Hong Myeon-ki It seems to me that the overseas Koreans network of today is sparsely and loosely maintained.

A Park Kwang-seong In my personal opinion, that there are not many sparse and loose networks is the problem. The overseas Koreans network is invariably centered around its relationship forged with Korea, and led by the institution like Overseas Koreans Foundation. In other words, it is not a genuine web-type network but a two-way link between the overseas Koreans community and Korea. By comparison, the overseas Chinese community is connected to diverse and multi-layered networks initiated by non-governmental players by kinship, regionalism, and business, although some of them are initiated by the central and local governments. As these networks overlap with one another, they expand and evolve into larger networks. Therefore, organizing a broad network needs to be based on diverse networks that are more widely distributed than now. To take organizing the overseas Koreans network to a higher level, there needs to be active exchange among overseas Koreans communities, and various forms of networks initiated by the government and non-governmental players. With the increasing need for activating civil society and international exchange, the overseas Koreans network will become more active.