미 점령군 통치하 ‘문명과 야만’의 교차

The Crossroads between Civilization and Barbarism during the U.S. Occupation of Korea

On September 8, 1945 U.S. occupation forces landed in Korea and began the process of establishing a direct military government south of the 38th parallel. To this end, the initial encounters between U.S. Forces and the South Korean public did not occur solely on an impersonal or institutional level. Rather, U.S. Forces also interfered in the daily lives of the South Korean public on a ‘personal’ and ‘physical’ level. Here, attention should be paid to the fact that the seen counters often resulted in ‘racial’ conflicts that further exasperated public resentment. In this regard, the focus needs to be placed on the circumstances that prevailed during this on going encounter between the South Korean public and U.S. Forces after September 1945. Put differently, these circumstances in effect unfolded along side the progression of ‘post-colonization’ and of Korea’ sintegration in to the U.S.-led globalized world. With the instances of murder, rape, and theft that occurred in seemingly quick succession after 1947 serving as the catalyst, racial and cultural conflicts that had previously simmered within various strata of society in the form of anger over everyday matters and specific issues such as the conservation of cultural properties, bubbled to the surface of society in a whirlwind of ethnic resentment. These series of incidents served to make the following facts clear: First, the relationship between the occupier and occupied was not formed at an impersonal level’ but rather on a ‘personal one’. Second, the social impact which these unfortunate incidents had proved that the ‘personal control’ method employed by the U.S. military government was in effect closely intertwined with the ‘post-colonization’ of a South Korean society that had just emerged from the yoke of Japanese colonialism. Ironically, the racial and cultural discrimination and ‘personal control’ method of the U.S. military government evoked amongst the South Korean public a recollection of the perception of the United States that had been propagated by the Japanese as part of their ideological warfare efforts during the wartime period. The U.S. military government found itself unable to ignore the situation that was emerging. In order to pull South Korean society into the U.S. sphere of influence, the U.S. military government had to not only do away with the physical and institutional legacies of Japanese colonialism, but also to remove the ruling ideology of the Japanese colonial era and replace it with one that could ensure the penetration of the notion of U.S. hegemony within Korean society. To strengthen its own ruling ideology at this pivotal juncture, the U.S. military government established the United States Information Service (USIS). In this regard, the latter can be regarded as having successfully carried out its role of conveying this new ruling ideology as part of the wider effort to incorporate Korea into the post-colonial society.