| Description |
In the 70 years of national division, the society and culture of the two Koreas have moved very far apart, through severance of ties, alienation, and the rule of hostile ideologies in the Korean War and Cold War era. The North Korean society and culture borne of dogmatic communism and armed with Juche ideology feels too different and unacceptable to South Koreans awash in liberal capitalism. I personally have a deeper understanding and greater acceptance than the average since I met with North Korean bureaucrats frequently and made several visits to North Korea in my former role at a UNESCO organization, but still would never be able to adapt to life in North Korean society. Just as we find it difficult to accept their invocations of the great leader and inflexible expressions about capitalism and imperialism, the North Koreans reject terms like liberty, human rights and civic society as bourgeois ideology. This difference in political regime and ideology has created heterogeneity between the two Koreas in every aspect of society and culture- education, culture, arts, religion, theater and movies. The heterogeneity and hostility in political and economic regimes make reconciliation or unification difficult. However, if the heterogeneity in culture, arts and lifestyles intensifies, even the establishment of a peace community, let alone peaceful unification, would appear to be an impossibility. Overcoming differences in ideology to achieve national unity (as proclaimed in the July 4th Joint Statement) does not seem possible. |
