Week 2-Anya Reames

Culture and Control

Korean culture had been eroded after several wars/conflicts in the last hundred years with the opposing party’s culture creating an influence on Koreans and Korean culture. First there was the Japanese colonialism (1910-1945), the divided Korea (1945-now), and The Korean war (1950-1953). Each further diminished the strength of Korean culture. Therefore, Korea began remaking itself through cultural policy. The goal was to create one Korean identity and return to country to a feeling of strong national culture. This was done by supporting the arts and using their pop culture as tools to further agendas such as a unified Korean. (1)

(Girls Generation in traditional Korean Han-bok)

Constitutional democracy is my preference when thinking about re-branding a nation. This is the government policy that South Korean undertook and it is what aided in its rise in international positive reception. This seems best as the plans of the government are controlled by laws and the people whose voice can be heard in the constitution. At times, officials in the government may attempt to create change or prevent it in their own manner. Such an example of this would be former Cultural Minister of South Korea, Cho Yoon-Sun who attempted to black list artists who were critical of the impeached President Park Geun-hye. In this case, since she acted against the people and against the constitution she was arrested. Showing the balance of the government and the people which allows for limited control. (2) However, South Korea must limit these incidences (by better checks on politicians) to prevent negative international news. This was it can maximize it's "national aesthetics" status.

Question: Is financial backing, or lack of, a method the government uses to control? Example would be the large financial backing of students in some countries leads to more education overall while limited financial backing (USA) leads to a less educated population.

(1)     Haksoon Yim (2002) Cultural identity and cultural policy in South Korea, International Journal of Cultural Policy, 8:1, 37-48, DOI: 10.1080/10286630290032422

(2)    http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/01/south-korea-minister-arrested-artist-blacklist-170121043536391.html