After World War II, the process of reorganizing the world system was fierce. The Korean War was clearly a civil war in which the confrontation between the free and communist camps on the Korean Peninsula intensified, but the outbreak was intercepted b ...
After World War II, the process of reorganizing the world system was fierce. The Korean War was clearly a civil war in which the confrontation between the free and communist camps on the Korean Peninsula intensified, but the outbreak was intercepted by the international problem of reorganization of the world system. In such a war situation, the knowledge system within society, social consensus, diplomatic issues, and the meaning of historical memories, which many countries and people previously had, had to change according to the current situation. It was common for allies to turn into enemy and enemy to allies. The relationship between Korea and Japan is also subject to such changes. Japan will be redefined as the “base state” of the United States and actively enjoy special warfare. On the other hand the Korean peninsula was divided and engulfed in war without receiving compensation for the years of humiliation, which was a Japanese colonial state, in a situation where the United States and the Soviet Union came in at the same time and ruled by trust.
'Hyuk-Joo Jang' is a Korean who naturalized to Japan in 1952 in this situation. He directly covered coverage of the Korean War and presented several works based on it. His actions, which would never have been simple, need to be read again from our perspective today as we are envisioning a Korean peninsula where peace is realized by breaking away from the national perspective.
Hyuk-Joo Jang's movements revealed in reportage enable us to see what he accentuates on the Korean Peninsula. It can be organized in three points. The first is that Hyuk-ju Jang tried to clarify his identity as a reporter for the 《Women's Club》. The main content is to look at the aspects of the Korean War that the Japanese want to see from the Japanese standpoint and the Japanese in Korea. Therefore, mainly the appearance of the city that was ruined by the war, the refugee life of Korean civilians in a pitiful and grotesque fate, the 'Japanese wives' who lost their husbands in Korea, Japanese women who are engaged in harbor or prostitution, and orphanages. The second is that Hyuk-ju Jang consistently emphasizes his Japanese identity. This in turn creates the effect of revealing that he is not originally Japanese. Through this, Hyuk-ju Jang secures the identity of his position and makes an alibi for his movements not exceeding the limits of the UN forces. The third is that it removes the view as an international war from the viewpoint of shaping the Korean War and writes that express the tragedy of the war sentimentally. This is emphasized in the section covering the case of the riots at the concentration camps in Geoje Island. Since Hyuk-ju Jang has already embodied the Korean War from an international perspective in some feature novels, he cannot lose such an international sense. However, no position on this part is revealed in the article. Rather, the situation in which the same people die and kill themselves is regarded as pathetic in a sentimental way through the voice of the cameraman, “Kim,” who was filming at the time. In this situation, Hyuk-ju Jang tries to take his position as a third person, that is, Japanese. This is a line of writing tailored to the purpose of not emphasizing political content in the context of Japan as a subordinate state of the United States and due to the nature of women's magazines. The desperate reality of prison camps becomes emotional once again in showing the 'children prisoners of war' area. Hyuk-ju Jang wrote an article that conforms to the logic of governance and, in Agamben’s word 'apparatus' through the report. However, this indirectly reveals the irrationality of the 'apparatus' through 'sadness', showing a divided self-consciousness through remarks about self-identity, and approaching the poor reality of Japanese wives remaining in Korea or the horrors of prisoners of war in a sentimental way.
The novel The Eyes is indirectly made in the report and reveals 'the things that cannot be ruled' are full-fledged. The protagonist 'I' is a character who basically reflects the artist Hyuk-ju Jang because it is formed under the name 'Noguchi', reminiscent of his name after his naturalization. He entered Korea as a Japanese reporter belonging to the U.S. military, where anti-Japanese sentiment is rising, and is covering the war situation. 'I' embodies what he sees, hears, and feels during his visit to Korea in a way that fits his innermost. At this time, in order to show the things that cannot be governed, Hyuk-ju Jang focuses on the way of imagining space.
As Hyuk-joo Jang did, 'I' can only move under the protection of the UN forces, and 'I' is a correspondent's lodging where Koreans are not allowed to enter. Meanwhile, there are areas in Seoul where Japanese people are not allowed to enter. In this way, spaces to which access is restricted are set throughout the work, and the narrative proceeds as an attempt of a cross-border crossing the space of such access control.
The first crossing-boundaries occurs at night by two Korean soldiers who visit the correspondent's lodging to meet 'I' without special purpose. Through the battlefield stories they tell, 'I' doubts whether it is natural or righteous to be thorough with ideology. This allows the 'apparatus' of war to go beyond the form of the subject.
The second crossing-boundaries occurs in the part where 'I' enters a refugee camp without knowing that entry is prohibited by Japanese. Here, 'I' discovers the appearance of a civilian who is seriously damaged by an allied force, and the mental distress of the soldiers who have to execute such an irrationality. Also, as a person entering a no-entry zone, 'I' is in danger of suffering such damage, and 'I' may be in trouble. This, too, tries to reveal that the ideology, which is the cause of the Korean War, is merely false.
Through this experience of crossing-boundaries, 'I' confirms how many institutional loopholes the violent mechanism of war has and is only a false apparatus that ignores the truth.
However, the crossing-boundaries that Hyuk-ju Jang depicts in The Eyes has a limitation in that it cannot be extended to the outside of the governing system and into an area that cannot be ruled. In other words, rather than emphasizing the possibility of being irrelevant to the reality of the anxiety and fear created by the war device, the elements of the work return to the rules that the governing structure enforces on the individual, and the narrative proceeds toward confirming the powerful power of the apparatus.
The transboundary subjects understand each other during the night time, but in the daytime they cannot escape the logic of governance. In the process of confirming such a strong governing order, the war apparatus becomes stronger, and the security of the power system is only preserved, not the safety of people.
Accordingly, Hyuk-ju Jang gives the deeply hurt and desperate 'I' a happy opportunity to witness the reunion of a separated family. This lays the foundation for 'I' to return home with a comfortable mind while not giving up expectations for a bright future. Through this, the world in this work secures a safe present within the system, and the narrative proceeds toward a future in which broken justice has been restored. The fear of the apparatus and the order of governance that monitors are mythized through the cross-border of Hyuk-joo Jang who tries to balance the force.
Through a detailed reading of these points, we will be able to provide an opportunity to reconsider the aspects that signify the Korean War. In addition, the reflective consciousness cultivated through this perspective can lead to a transnational problem consciousness of end of war and peace beyond the national perspective.