뉴스레터

Question

This year marks the 420th anniversary of the Imjin War (1592). How should we understand and remember this war?

Answer

Ironically, the purpose of studying wars in history and remembering them from the perspective of today is to explore the conditions and philosophy of peace. The Imjin War is not an exception. In this regard, this year, marking the 420th anniversary of the outbreak of the war, is a year for us to refresh our commitment and vision to peace. In other words, we should evoke the memories of this harrowing war from our history and consciousness, not simply a war fought among them in the past, and remind ourselves of the significance of the war from the standpoint of the planners of peace in East Asia.

The Imjin War was an international war at a time in history that coincided with 'the collision of eastern and western civilizations.' It was also the war of East Asia that shaped the international order of the modern East Asia. Most importantly, it was a disaster resulting from the incompetency of the ruling class of Joseon blind to changes in the international landscape and their neglect of military arts. This war, fought by about half a million troops, is known to have over 200,000 casualties and close to 2 million victims of Joseon civilians. Nevertheless, studies on the Imjin War in the Korean, Chinese, and Japanese academia have been overwhelmingly dominated by the perspective of the history of a single country rather than highlighting the significance of the war in world story or lessons learned for peace. In other words, nationalistic interpretation has been the dominant viewpoint of this war. However, this war, which ravaged the three East Asian countries and left the Joseon people in indescribable despair and suffering, cannot be simply described as the history of enmity or the history of heroes such as Lee Sun-sin, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, or Lee Ru-sung.

In this respect, I think it natural and fortunate that there is shared and widening recognition recently, particularly with the progress of globalization, that the Imjin War was an international war that brought about changes in the order of East Asia. That the name 'Imjin War' replaced the 'Japanese Invasion' in the textbooks of East Asian History, a new subject included in the Korean high school curriculum starting from this year, is an important indicator of such paradigm shift. But let us not forget that we should not stop at recognizing the Imjin War as an international war but make sure that the memories of the war lead to reflection for peace. The significance of the Imjin War should not be taken lightly because the peace of the Korean peninsula was, and still is 420 years later, a key prerequisite for the peace of East Asia. Now that the Korean peninsular has the border of division and conflict cutting across it, how can it establish itself as the solid base of reconciliation and peace for East Asia? How in the today's circumstances where the East Asian community and the neighboring countries are distorting history can we transform the space of separation and collision into the space of coexistence and cooperation?

It is said that the control of knowledge precedes the control of power. The Korean peninsula is not a simple object of international power politics. It should be the solid base that maintains peace in the region and the world. At the same time, it should also transform itself into the space that creates coexistence and cooperation as the future vision of East Asia and gathers momentum to move toward the peaceful world. It should be the base of knowledge that not only has physical power with which to counter the logic of the power of international politics but takes the initiative in producing wisdom and methodology for reflecting on history and achieving peace first. The lack of knowledge that leads to neglecting the control of power is highly likely to put our history at risk once again or at least mislead it. This, I believe, represents the grave significance of the 420th anniversary of the Imjin War.