Growing apart from North Korea? Assessing the dynamics of identity development in South Korea

• Autor(a) principal: Alves, Ana Filipa Sobral
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/30439
• topic: South Korea; Identidade nacional -- National identity; Globalization; Unification; Coreia do Sul; Globalização; Unificação

The ongoing panorama of nationalism in the Korean Peninsula constitutes a unique and neverseen- before case in the international arena where, despite a long-shared past with common history, language, traditions and culture, the insertion of South Korea into the global sphere seems to have separated the South from identification with the North. The display of South Korean flags, the active participation in International Organizations and the fast-paced lifestyle of Seoul leads one to question if these two nations are still compatible with one another or if the seven decades of division have proven to be more important than anticipated. This dissertation examines the current dynamics of South Korean society and, through the analysis of national surveys and thorough qualitative research, this study investigates the emergence of a South Korean national identity and questions its impact on the national willingness to unify. The final results argue that globalization has had an important role in reshaping the narratives of national identity within the South and has led to the creation of an exclusive form of ‘self’ that not only excludes the North, but constructs itself in opposition to their northern counterparts, hence presenting South Korea as the advanced, modern and developed Korea. The conclusions of this research provide fruitful contributions to the debate of nationalism in our contemporary world as well as it formulates an updated insight into inter-Korean relations and future unification processes.