Korean science fiction: Difference between revisions

Korean science fiction refers to the production and reception of science fiction (SF) literature, film, television, comics, and other media in pre-division Korea, and later, in both North and South Korea. Like in many other places, science fiction was historically marginalized in Korea, dismissed by critics and scholars. Since the 1980s, South Korean science fiction evolved into a significant mode of cultural expression and now forms an important part of the country's popular culture, reflecting the country’s evolving relationship with technology, democracy, and global modernity.

History

Early history and Japanese colonial period

Science fiction was introduced to Korea at the turn of the twentieth century, in the context of the national enlightenment movement. The first science fiction work published in Korea was Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, serialized in a Korean magazine Taegukhakbo in the years 1907-1908. The first Korean work of science fiction was Kim Dong-in's short story "The Study of Dr. K" or "Dr. K's Research" (1929). However, the genre failed to develop during Japanese colonial rule (1910–1945) due to limited science education and ambivalence or outright resistance toward technoscientific modernity promoted by and subsequently associated with the Japanese.

Post-liberation and Cold War era

After Korea's independence in 1945 and the division into North and South Korea in 1948, science fiction became part of mass culture in both countries.

In North Korea

See also: Pulgasari

In the North, it developed steadily through the 1950s, as initially it was associated with promotion of science and education, seen as crucial for the economic development and therefore endorsed by the communist parties worldwide; it was also tied to communist propaganda that juxtaposed communist approach to science, portrayed as disinterested, altruistic, and international, with capitalist one, focused on personal gain. The first science fiction story in North Korea appeared in a 1950 magazine "World of Science" (과학의 세교); it was a translation of a Russian SF story (Vladimir Obruchev's “Planetary Flight"). First works of science fiction created in North Korea appeared a few years later, after the Korean War. Some early North Korean SF writers include Sok Yun-gi (석윤기), Pae Pung and Hong Sung-won (Last Lifeline, 1965).

The development of North Korean SF was eventually curtailed from the late 1960s as it was not compatible with the Kim Il-sung’s personality cult and the Juche ideology, which came to dominate the North Korea's political and cultural landscape, leading to the literary narratives heavily focusing on stories about anti-Japanese guerrilla warfare and pioneers, preferably closely related to the figure of Kim Il Sung himself. Science fiction did not, however, disappear from North Korean literary landscape, and after a brief pause, North Korean magazines and publishers started to publish SF stories again in the mid-70s. These stories universally praised progress (such as developments of robots) attributed to the advancements in the "juche science". Effectively the stories that were allowed to be published were less about the possibilities of science, and more about promoting the strict adherence to party guidelines, which, if dutifully followed, would lead to glorious future.

North Korean science fiction started to develop again in the late 1980s, which has been attributed to Kim Jong Il's (North Korea's second supreme leader) fondness of this genre. 1988 saw the publication of Hwang Chŏngsang's novella Green Ears of Rice, about scientists who develop a plant that cures cancer; according to some accounts, the novella was positively reviewed by Kim Jong Il himself, who called it a model for future works he wanted to see. Subsequent years also saw a number of translations of international sf in North Korea (although these were mostly limited to classics from the Soviet empire). In 1993 Hwang published his critical work, The Creation of Science Fiction Literature, which included a number of quotes from Kim Jong Il praising science fiction. In 2000, Chosŏn munhak (Korean Literature), North Korea’s main literary magazine, started publishing science fiction stories, and science fiction books begun to be published North Korean mainstream presses (previously, they tended to be published by their youth literature imprints). North Korea's third leader, Kim Jong Un, has also been described as supportive of science education, and his ascention to power in 2011 does not seem to have affected the situation of North Korean science fiction.

North Korean science fiction has been praised as innovative in the context of North Korean literature, inspired by international popular culture. Nonetheless, North Korean works of SF tend to remain highly didactic and nationalistic (toeing the party line, portraying the might and superiority of peace-loving North Korea, expressing support for the country’s leadership and disdain for duplicitous Western and capitalist countries). However, the figure of North Korean supreme leaders is generally absent in North Korean science fiction works, which has been explain Korean literature researcher Kim Minsun, who wrote that "To imagine and project the future of this entity that can never be at fault is close to impossible".

Modern major North Korean SF writers include Yi Kŭmch'ŏl (The Oil Field’s Black Fog, 2000l, Kanggye Spirit, 2002), who has been described as one of the country's "most prolific science fiction writers", having developed "a unique style of spectacular science fiction that mixes Cold War antagonism, spy novel tropes, and innovative military technology" (his works commonly portray American imperialists as villains, defeated by advanced North Korean technology). Other North Korean SF writers include Pak Chongnyŏl and Yi Ch’ŏlman. It was estimated that by mid-2010s, North Korean writers have published about a hundred or so SF works (mostly short stories), with Yi Kŭmch'ŏl's being the author of about twenty.

In South Korea

Under authoritarianism

In the South, the genre benefited from the more liberal attitudes towards the American and, more controversially, Japanese popular culture during the 1960s. Some of the South Korean SF writers of that era include Han Nak-won and Moon Yoon-Sung. The latter's Perfect Society (1967) is considered to be the first South Korean SF novel. 1960s also saw the first South Korean SF films (in the kaiju monster film genre), such as Bulgasari (1962), Space Monster Wangmagwi (1967) and Yongary, Monster from the Deep (1967). However, the genre's development was slow under the authoritarian developmentalist regimes of the 1970s and 1980s, as, ironically, the South's government moderate support for the genre (particularly in the context of promoting engagement of youth with science and technology) once again, reminiscent of the Japanese colonial era, alienated many artists who did not want to be associated with the Korean authoritarian military dictatorship of that period. Science fiction also suffered from stereotypes that labeled it as either didactic literature aimed at young readers, or as works dealing with either dry, advanced scientific concepts or absurd ideas.

However, the very same political dynamic of South Korea also led in the 1970s to the emergence of a movement known as protest SF (also known as minjung SF) - works written by writers who aligned itself with South Korea’s democratization movements. This subgenre employed science fiction as a vehicle for social critique of the country's top- down militarist industrialization that could bypass the government's censorship, offering an alternative to the dominant realist aesthetics of the time. Notable works include Cho Se-hui’s slipstream fiction The Dwarf (1978) and Bok Geo-il’s alternative history In Search of the Epitaph: Kyŏngsŏng, Shōwa 62 (1987), both of which used science fiction tropes to critique top-down industrialization, class struggle, and state oppression.

Democratization and digital era

South Korean science fiction experienced a resurgence after the country’s democratization in 1987 and the emergence of the digital era, which South Korea quickly embraced. This period since saw science fiction flourish across Korean literature, film, television, comics, webtoons, and other media. This period saw the emergence of SF fandom in Korea, with SF clubs and webzines (such as the Mirrorzine).

Following the 1997 Asian financial crisis, a wave of dystopian and absurdist science fiction reflected widespread social disillusionment of the precariat with the capitalist society, coupled with the conclusion that no realistic alternative exists. Works from this period often incorporated biting humor and dystopian settings, highlighting the sense of alienation in an increasingly globalized and neoliberal economy. Park Min-gyu’s Legend of the World’s Superheroes (2003) exemplifies this trend, satirizing global cultural hegemony through the character Bananaman.

Since the 1990s, feminist and queer science fiction has become a vibrant part of the South Korean sf scene, challenging the traditional misoginistic, heteronormative and conformist South Korean society. Influenced by Western feminist writers such as Ursula K. Le Guin and Joanna Russ, Korean authors have used the genre to explore gender, sexuality, and bodily norms. The pseudonymous author Djuna’s works, for instance, challenge gender binaries and social norms. Other authors have written stories exploring disability, body modification, and alternative utopias.

Contemporary developments

Second decade of the 21st century saw the emergence of book publishers in South Korea, specializing in the publication of SF works. Science Fiction Writers Union of the Republic of Korea and Korean Science Fiction Association were founded in 2017 and 2018, respectively. 오늘의 SF (SF Today or Today’s SF), described as the first South Korean science fiction magazine, was established in 2019.

Today, South Korean science fiction is enjoying a peak of popularity in South Korea, driven by the country’s high-tech culture and a growing demand for imaginative representations of technological change. This includes literature, big-budget films, webtoons, and television series like The School Nurse Files (2020) and SF8 (2020).

Korean science fiction films form a major part of modern Korean science fiction. Filmmakers such as Bong Joon-ho, Kim Moon-saeng. Jang Joon-hwan, Shin Su-won and Min Byeong-cheon have contributed significantly, with works like Natural City (2003), Sky Blue (2003), Save the Green Planet! (2003), The Host (2006), Snowpiercer (2013). Glass Garden (2017) and Okja (2017) often incorporating SF elements to critique class divisions and environmental issues. Other notable modern Korean SF movies include Jo Sung-hee's space opera Space Sweepers (2021), described as the "the first Korean SF film set in space" (although the 1967 kaiju-genre South Korean film Yongary, Monster from the Deep already contained a short opening set in space).

Notable modern South Korean sci-fi writers and their works include Bae Myung-hoon ("Smart D", 2006), Chang Kang-myoung, Chung Serang, Kim Bo-young (On the Origin of Species, 2021 ), Kim Chang-gyu ("Noesu’, 2015), Kim Cho-yeop (Those Who Chose Exile, 2019), Jeong Soyeon (Cosmic Go, 2009), Park Seong-hwan ("Readymade Boddhisattva", 2004) and Yi Chong-san ("Customers, 2017).

Themes

A distinctive feature of Korean science fiction is that it draws upon uniquely Korean sentiments and experiences, setting it apart from Western-centric perspectives. Korean science fiction often addresses issues of national identity, class struggle, and state oppression, reflecting the country’s history of colonization, authoritarianism, and rapid modernization. It also explores gender, sexuality, disability, and environmental concerns, frequently serving as a vehicle for social critique and democratic discourse. A number of modern works that continue the spirit of protest SF and criticize the modern world order and society, contain anti-Western or anti-American sentiment. 21st century saw the emergence of a zombie theme in a number of Korean works, such as Yeon Sang-ho’s Train to Busan (2016) and its spin-offs and the 2019 Kingdom TV series.

Further reading

• Fischer, Paul (2015). A Kim Jong-Il production: the extraordinary true story of a kidnapped filmmaker, his star actress, and a young dictator's rise to power (1st ed.). New York: Flatiron Books. ISBN 978-1-250-05426-5.