북한 구전설화 연구 - 탈북자들의 구술자료를 중심으로

Since spring 2002, the author has met the recent defectors from North Korea to investigate the North Korean oral folk tales. The ten North Korean defectors whom the author met confided to him over 100 pieces of folk tale and folk-tale-related information. Collecting these data was a pleasurable experience as the doubts and ambiguities concerning North Korean oral literature were cleared one by one. The project was worthwhile as the reality of North Korean oral tradition, though partially, could be reported before research has been done in any journals, in an independent volume, or in any broadcasting program.<BR> Questionwise the whole content could be summarized as follows: (1) Are there any folk tales in North Korea`: The interviews with North Korean defectors show that there are. For instance, the interviewee who grew up at the town of General Eung-seo Kim dictated some related stories and other town-based legends that he had heard in his childhood. Other interviewees also dictated stories that are hard to be found in the existing North Korean folk tale anthology.<BR> (2) In what form do the folk tales exist`: North Korean folk tales were viewed as existing in four types. That is: ① traditional oral transmission ② published but changed tales ③ modernized humor ④ tales adapted for fairy tales and digital media. First of all, traditional oral transmission refers to the folk tales that have been narrated since the Partition of the Korean Peninsula. Second, published but changed tales are those created intentionally for a certain ideological purpose after the successful idolization of Chairman Kim. Third, modernized humor refers to those humorous stories floating over the general population just like those in South Korea. In the author`s opinion, this is the type in which the oral tales are most widely distributed and galvanized in the North Korean society. Tales in this category include humor castigating the unjust top officials, humor satirizing the corrupted military, humor that surreptitiously expresses the author`s discontentment toward the mainstream ideology, and the sexual innuendoes, which only show that the North Koreans have the same sexual tension in their lives as ours. From these types of humor me can infer that the North Koreans live with a due sense of judgment toward the contradiction or corruption of their political system and thus that they are only human just like one of us with the same instincts, desires and sense of humor. In addition, there are also humorous stories using puns.<BR> Lastly, tales adapted for fairy tales and digital media refer to those stories that are not original but re-created based on traditional folk tales or classical literature. The interviewees dictated these tales recalling their experience of reading the fairy tales and comics or watching the movies, TV shows or animation.<BR> (3) How are the oral folk tales being transmitted in North Korea`: First, such tales as traditional folk tales, m