Koreans living in Japan (zainichi kankokujin in Japanese) have long been subject to discrimination and marginalization by Japanese society. Museum as Hub Fellow Haeyun Park discusses the internal division within the Korean diaspora in Japan along two axes of analysis: 1.) the ideological divide based on one’s political affiliation towards South Korea or North Korea, which played a major role in the massive repatriation of 90,000 Koreans to North Korea from 1959 to 1984; and 2.) the generational divide between first generation Koreans who maintain a strong attachment to the vision of Korea as their homeland and the younger generation Koreans who increasingly see themselves as members of Japanese society.

This open discussion is part of the Museum as Hub project “Dongducheon: A Walk to Remember, A Walk to Envision,” organized by Insa Art Space, Seoul, and on view in the fifth-floor Museum as Hub space until July 6, 2008.

Haeyun Sophie Park is Museum as Hub Fellow at the New Museum for the project “Dongducheon: A Walk to Remember, A Walk to Envision,” organized by Insa Art Space, Seoul. Park recently completed her M.A. in East Asian regional studies at Columbia University, where she intends to pursue her Ph.D. Park’s academic interests are motivated by her experience as a researcher in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in South Korea and as an intern of publication and publicity at East Rock Institute in New Haven.