I wonder why I haven’t run into this article on the web sooner. Prof. Paik, one of South Korea’s leading scholars on reunification and democracy in Korea, assesses the state of the country 20 years after the abolishment of the last military regime. He talks about the role of the Korean diaspora in what he calls “Reunification Korean-style” in the last two paragraphs.
Prof. Paik is actually a mythic figure in the English dept. of my undergraduate education, Seoul National University. Everybody looked up to him as a scholar of genius and integrity. At a time when American PhD were rare in Korea, he came to the university with an elite American education (BA Brown, PhD Harvard; the Korean academy is a sucker for American PhDs–from elite institutions, not from anywhere). I remember reading an interview with him somewhere–probably in the journal he established–where the interviewer asked him why he chose to come back to Korea after getting his PhD. Paik said he didn’t care much for living in the U.S., or something like that. The myth goes that he was an impressive student. Published in the New Left Review and other journals, published a couple short stories . . . supertalented. Interestingly, his dissertation was on D. H. Lawrence. And he’s a Leavisite. No kidding. Was and still is. I don’t know how to reconcile that with what he did in Korea. He basically started the people’s literature movement in Korea, opening a phase of people-based literature and criticism. He was also one of the leading intellectuals who opposed Park’s military dictatorship. Had to step down from his university office because of that in 1974 (? or sometime around that); was reinstated in 1980(?) when Park was assassinated. In short, he’s someone who fought for democracy and civil society with his job and life (probably also his family) at risk. He is my model Korean scholar. I remember him also saying in the same interview that he’s concerned that Korean scholars in the humanities are not where they should be (i.e. they’re not publishing in internationally recognized journals and creating for themselves a presence in global intellectual conversations). When I think about Prof. Paik, I feel guilty I’m not flying home two weeks earlier than planned to vote in the presidential election. The flight is $500 more expensive if I were to fly in time for the election. What can I do. Money matters.
