Throughout this semester I learned a bit about the history of South Korea. My comprehensive outlook on the history is that it is kind of depressing. I learned about the concept of Han when I took SDLC 111 which denotes a collective feeling of oppression and isolation in the face of overcoming insurmountable odds. I think this perfectly encapsulates Korea's history and what the Korean people had to go through based on what I learned so far.
In the past, Korea has always been overtaken by other stronger countries such as Japan and China. Korea has always been on the weaker end of the spectrum and had to overcome overwhelming circumstances. There is also the Korean war where Korea became separated into two countries. The significant impact of this on the Korean people never really hit me until I watched Ode to my Father, which was assigned by Youngmin. In the film, there was a scene where the main character gets to reunite with his sister who was lost in the Korean war through a television broadcast. Before this emotional scene, the film shows real life broadcasts of separated family members reuniting through the television network. I had no idea this reunification happened until I saw the film and it was heart wrenching to watch. I imagined how I would have felt if I was separated from any of my family members for decades and finally being able to see them. The depressing part was that they were able to physically see each other, but only through the television screens. I was an emotional wreck after this scene. There is also the history of the demonstrations against the corrupt government where a college student was murdered in 1987.
All these events culminated together just make me feel sorry for all the things the Korean people had to suffer through. I can finally see why the term Han has been specially created for the people of Korea. Fortunately, South Korea now has a booming economy and is not suffering anymore.
Comments