Joint Security Area (JSA) is a South Korean film which deals with the relationship between North Korea and South Korea. In the film, two North Korean soldiers are murdered near the border. Sophie, an officer from the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission, investigates the incident. With evidence and information, she tries to find the truth of the incident. In JSA, the incident takes a place in 1999. North Korea and South Korea have been divided after the Korean War ends in 1953. Although around 50 years passed after the division, its influences remain and the film describes them. This paper is going to argue how JSA deal with the North Korean people and prospects of Korean reunification with referring to other resources.
First of all, with comparing to Know Your Enemy: Japan, I am going to argue how JSA describes the North Korean people. Know Your Enemy: Japan is a documentary film made in 1945, in order to encourage hostility toward the Japanese people. The film emphasizes the “oneness” of Japanese people. For example, the film uses scenes of the Japanese people working hard while a narrator explains that everyone in Japan has the same ambition to conquer the world. Thus, because the film suggests all Japanese have the same willing to conquer the world, everyone in Japan is described as the enemy. In War Without Mercy, Dower affirms that The War Department deleted references to “free-thinking” Japanese from Know Your Enemy: Japan and emphasized the point that the Japanese people are “an obedient mass with but a single mind” (19-20). Thus, in order to reduce sympathy for the Japanese people, The War Department purposely omitted from Know Your Enemy: Japan the description of the Japanese people controlled by their leaders. Know Yo...
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...orth Korean people are described as not different from the South Korean people. Besides, while JSA suggests possibility of Korean reunification, people remain strong hostility against each other.
Work Cited
Joint Security Area. Dir. Chan-wook Park. Per. Yeong-ae Lee, Byung-hun Lee, and Kang-ho Song. CJ Entertainment. 2005. DVD.
Know Your Enemy: Japan. Dir. Frank Capra. 1945. Film.
Dower, John W. War Without Mercy: Race and Power in The Pacific War. New York: Pantheon Books, 1986. Print.
Cumings, Bruce. The Origin of the Korean War: Liberation and the Emergence of Separate Regimes 1945-1947. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1989. Print.
Koreas to Unite for Table Tennis, Soccer Competition. Los Angeles Time. 12 Feb. 1991. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.
Chico Harlan. South Korea’s young people are wary of unification. The Washington Post. 17 Oct. 2011. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.
Blaine Harden, former national correspondent and writer for the New York Times, delivers an agonizing and heartbreaking story of one man’s extremely conflicted life in a labor camp and an endeavor of escaping this place he grew up in. This man’s name is Shin Dong-hyuk. Together, Blaine Harden and Shin Dong-hyuk tell us the story of this man’s imprisonment and escape into South Korea and eventually, the United States, from North Korea. This biography that takes place from 1982-2011, reports to its readers on what is really going on in “one of the world’s darkest nations” (back cover of the book), that is run under a communist state and totalitarian dictatorship that was lead by Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il, and currently lead by Kim-Jong un. In Escape from Camp 14, Shin shows us the adaptation of his life and how one man can truly evolve from an animal, into a real human being.
John Dower's War without Mercy describes the ugly racial issues, on both the Western Allies and Japanese sides of the conflict in the Pacific Theater as well as all of Asia before during and after World War II and the consequences of these issues on both military and reconstruction policy in the Pacific. In the United States as well as Great Britain, Dower dose a good job of proving that, "the Japanese were more hated than the Germans before as well as after Pearl Harbor." (8) On this issue, there was no dispute among contemporary observers including the respected scholars and writers as well as the media. During World War II the Japanese are perceived as a race apart, a species apart referred to as apes, but at the same time superhuman. "There was no Japanese counterpart to the "good German" in the popular consciousness of the Western Allies." (8) Dower is not trying to prove how horrible the Japanese are. Instead, he is examining the both sides as he points out, "atrocious behavior occurred on all sides in the Pacific War." (12-13) Dower explores the propaganda of the United States and Japanese conflict to underline the "patterns of a race war," and the portability of racist stereotypes. Dower points out that "as the war years themselves changed over into an era of peace between Japan and the Allied powers, the shrill racial rhetoric of the early 1940s revealed itself to be surprisingly adaptable. Idioms that formerly had denoted the unbridgeable gap between oneself and the enemy proved capable of serving the goals of accommodation as well."(13) "the Japanese also fell back upon theories of "proper place" which has long been used to legitimize inequitable relationships within Japan itself."(9) After...
In the late 1940’s the United States became involved in the United Nations action to stop the spread of communism against North Korea. For many months the U.N. force had been beaten back by a persistent NKPA force. The tactic chosen by the North Korean’s was to conduct a swift frontal assault with a rapid follow-on assault from both the left and right flanks. This proved extremely effective and caused the loss of Seoul and had forced the U.N. forces to fall back to the very tip of the Korean peninsula. Here the U.N. force, commanded by General Walton H. Walker, and the Eighth Army could fall back no further without retreating off the Korean peninsula altogether. General Walker formed his remaining troops into what would be known as the Pusan Perimeter.1 Still unfazed, the North Korean army battered the lines of the Eighth Army and many casualties resulted. It was clear that although the force could remain here indefinitely with naval support many U.S. troops would be lost and no new ground would be gained. For six weeks the North Korean Army conducted attacks trying to breach the line and it wa...
Pearson, Lester B. "Documents on the Korean Crisis." University of Manitoba. January 24, 1951. http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/units/archives/canada_war/tribune/website/clippings/korea/Documents_on_the_Korean_Crisis1.shtml (accessed December 18, 2011).
John Dower's War Without Mercy describes the ugly racial dimensions of the conflict in the Asian theater of World War II and their consequences on both military and reconstruction policy in the Pacific. "In the United States and Britain," Dower reminds us, "the Japanese were more hated than the Germans before as well as after Pearl Harbor. On this, there was no dispute among contemporary observers. They were perceived as a race apart, even a species apart -- and an overpoweringly monolithic one at that. There was no Japanese counterpart to the 'good German' in the popular consciousness of the Western Allies." (8) Conservative readers, don't fret - Dower isn't making this argument to exonerate the Japanese for their own racism or war crimes -- after all, "atrocious behavior occurred on all sides in the Pacific War." (12-13) Rather, Dower is exploring the propaganda of the US-Japanese conflict to delineate the "patterns of a race war," the cultural mechanisms of "othering," and the portability of racial/racist stereotypes. For "as the war years themselves changed over into into an era of peace between Japan and the Allied powers, the shrill racial rhetoric of the early 1940s revealed itself to be surprisingly adaptable. Idioms that formerly had denoted the unbridgeable gap between oneself and the enemy proved capable of serving the goals of accommodation as well." (13)
North Korea profoundly corresponds with Oceania by being a highly militarized nation. Although it has been decades since the Korean war, there has been an everlasting tension between North Korea and the nations surrounding it. Every minute of everyday the North Korean army remains armed on its border. Whether it is a South Korean or Chinese citizen trying to cross the border, they will be shot at. This highly militarized state of society was influenced by Kim Il Sung, the tenacious tyrant of North Korea from 1912 to 1994. Kim Il Sung was so paranoid about other nations intervening, that he used the conception of violence and war to prevent outsiders from entering, or even North Koreans from leaving. This strange sense of constant tension between North Korea and other nations reflects an important issue occurring in Oceania. The people of Oceania are to believe that Oceania is constantly at war with one of two nation’s, Eurasia and Eastasia. Big Brother uses the word war in the same calculating way to influence the minds of his people. “The very word ‘war,’ therefore, has become misleading... A peace that was truly permanent would be the same as a permanent war. This... is the inner ...
During 1950 there was much opposition to the thought of ending the Korean War. While the United States of America and the United Nations Command sought out to peacefully end the war, both North Korea and South Korea were hell-bent towards unifying the Korean peninsula in their own image. While at this time South Korea, was an ally of
Japan was imperializing late nineteenth century to early twentieth century. Korea was a Japanese colony. After World War II, the Japanese had to get rid of the colony. North Korea became Communist. South Korea wanted to be democratic. Later North Korea crossed the 38th parallel and entered South Korea. The United States answered by telling the United Nations to help South Korea. The United Nations did and they pushed North Korea so far back they hit the northern tip of china. China went into the war to protect their borders. At the end of the war they went back to where they were in the beginning. Neither side won. Between 1992 -1995 North Korea did many good things. It says on BBC News Asia that North Korea became involved in the United Nations and they agree to freaze nuclear weapon program those where the good they did but then there was a huge flood that created a food shortage this was also on BBC Asia. In 2002 it say in BBC Asia that nuclear tension increased in North Korea and United States. The North Korean communist nation controls the citizen’s religious beliefs so they have to belief in jushe which is a belief that they have to look up to North Korean leaders. The North Korean leaders make sure the citizens of North Korea belief in it if they don...
General Douglas MacArthur will forever be remembered for his famed Inchon landing in the Korean War, a piece of tactical genius which swung the tide of the war in favour of the United Nations (UN) and the South Koreans. However, what was his overall contribution to the conflict from the Inchon landing, to his dismissal from his role on April 11th 1951? While the Inchon landing was an unprecedented success, which very few could have the audacity to execute, its success was also the catalyst for the errors in judgement that would follow resulting in Chinese involvement in the war. Ultimately ending in the armistice on July 27th 1953, the Korean War had not been the success many had promised initially following the Inchon landing. This essay will explore Douglas MacArthur's actions leading up to, including, and following the Inchon invasion in an attempt to assess his overall effectiveness as Commander in Chief of the United Nations Command.
For fifty million men, women, and children World War II meant death. For some it meant "hell on earth" For nations everywhere it led to technological changes and bureaucratic expansion. The government claimed it was "holy war for national survival and glory" and its purpose was to "defend" values of state and culture. Most high officials thought it was power politics. John W.Dower in his "War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War" argues that world war II was a race war. He proves this on page four when he says "exposed raw prejudices...fueled by racial pride, arrogance, and rage." Dower claims that race was neglected as an issue of WWII. He raises a thought provoking question where he asks "When and where did race play a significant
Moreover, according to the same theory, relations among states are derived primarily by their level of power, which constitutes basically their military and economic capability, and in pursuit of the national security states strive to attain as many resources as possible. The theoretical model explains thus why the nuclear issue has eventually resulted in identifying with a security one, meaning that North Korea main concern is to assure its survivor, its efforts are in the first place finalized at meeting that target and its only means of pursuing it consists of the posing of the nuclear threat. North Korea finds itself stuck in an economic and, to some extent, diplomatic isolation; even though the financial sanctions leading to the just mentioned critical conditions have been caused by the government inflexible, aggressive and anti-democratic behavior, the regime has no other choice than restate and strengthen its strict and, apparently, definitive positions to ensure its survivor, since at the moment any concession or move toward a more liberal approach breaking the countrys isolation could easily cause a collapse of the whole system.... ... middle of paper ...
South Korea, appearance earnest at some Tobe dyration to a one Korea, does not invoke to see North Korea made more destitute than it already is. The South Koreans, moreover, have estimated the cost of German course reunification is beyond what their sparing can bear, and might lead to South Korean collapse as well. If North Korea were to collapse South Korea, a land of 47 million, would have the refrain of 20 million destitute people. There may be impression for populous-gradation movement of refugees into the south. There is no guarantee, moreover, that a fail North Korea might not fall into affable enmity or dynamitism. For these purpose, the South Koreans fear the collapse of North Korea even more than they dread a nuclear North Korea, since most South Koreans do not suppose the North would manner nuclear dagger on the South. The Rho administration’s cunning o...
John F. Kennedy once noted: “Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind.” Rising tensions between two opposing forces can lead to intense conflict. Provided that China and Japan have struggles of their own, North and South Korea have had struggles since 1950 (“Korean War”, 1) and continue to hold their conflicts, which seem to be increasing. South Korea, a democratic nation, is the exact opposite of North Korea; a hyper-nationalist nation - seemingly creating a “personality clash” between the two. Much like World War I, there may be, sometime in the future, a full blown war because of North Korea’s hyper-nationalist secretive rule. North Korea’s isolation, internal struggles, and Kim Jong-un’s intention of proving leadership will increase tensions between North and South Korea and may result in an outbreak of war in the near future.
“Brainwashing, surveillance, fear: daily fare in North Korea”. Channel NewsAsia. (18 Feb. 2014) .Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
North Korea as we know is a communist country ruled by Kim Jong-Un. North Korea has been under the State’s radar from the nuclear threats to their human rights. They spark United State’s interest once more when the previous leader passed away and the duty was passed to the youngest son and now we are trying to dig deeper into the secrets that North Korea has been hiding away with the their barred wire to keep others from coming in. With the help of South Korea, we can explore the different levels of torture, inhumane activates, and the new leadership of Kim Jong-Un.