창작과 비평

The Quarterly Changbi 191, Spring 2021

 

What is the time we are undergoing now? Living in the Covid-19 era, which does not seem to have a clear end, since its sudden arrival more than a year ago, we often hear voices complaining about endlessly accumulating fatigue and a sense of loss. But Covid-19 is not an event that appeared abruptly—the way of life we had become used to was not unrelated to its outbreak. In fact, we are not in a situation in which we have lost what we should now recover, but rather one in which we should rebuild a new way of life, from a state of loss and deprivation on a global scale. Perhaps we may even say we are fortunate to be living in a time when we still have the chance to choose the course of our lives, and to change--before it all reaches a full collapse.

Together with all the pain that our experience of the pandemic has brought us, it has also offered some signposts of how our lives might unfold from now on, as well as an opportunity for reflection on decisions we should make. Above all, we can confirm that the pain we have suffered in the crisis is not equal for all, but differs according to individual economic and social conditions. We cannot help but feel complicated emotions, witnessing the intensified polarization of wealth, in which the haves become richer, through skyrocketing real estate prices and stocks, while the poor became poorer under the influence of unstable employment conditions and economic recession. These complicated emotions include not only anger, fear, and despondency, but also acute awareness of inequality, as well as ideas and affective impacts that will drive us to creatively solve these problems.

In fact, the process of coping with the common upheaval of Covid-19 has also been a time when the strength of community and its civic agency are being tested. Until now, we could confirm substantial analyses and indices, of which we felt proud. In particular, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the experience of feeling acutely the value of care and the importance of care work was a special kind of learning acquired by living through the Covid-19 era. Through our experience of the past year, we have been made aware, with every fiber of our being, of the value and importance of “the work of sharing the needs of everyday lives that all members of our community experience in every phase of their lives—that is, the work of caring for one another while overcoming one another’s difficulties and challenges together.” (Paik Young-Gyung, “The Welfare and the Commons,” Changbi Fall 2017).

The matter most closely related to our way of life, which is about to change, is the fact that citizens’ interest in the issues of environment and ecology, direct causes of the Covid-19 pandemic, has expanded considerably. In particular, due to global signs of abnormal climate phenomena, occurring simultaneously with the Covid-19 pandemic, people’s awareness of the climate crisis became more acute than before. This direct experience of the signs of a climate crisis, which we tended to avoid because the deeper we looked into it, the more inconvenient it felt, and because the more we thought about it, the more complicated it seemed, is significant. To channel this experience in a more purposeful direction, we need to go beyond accepting the climate crisis and gaining a changed awareness of and actions aimed at climate justice. In fact, actions and practices related to climate justice might be another important challenge on which the capabilities of our community and our civic agency can be tested and proven.

Awareness of climate justice teaches us that our response to and measures taken concerning climate crisis are not only a matter of ecology but also of human rights and inequality, and related to the strengthening of a community’s capabilities. The statement that climate crisis lies at the crossroads where political, economic, and ethical questions of our time meet has become a valid one, intuitively felt by everyone. Bold decisions and measures taken recently in a few countries provide supporting evidence for this truth. In Germany, for instance, while pursuing decarbonization and denuclearization plans, late last year the government actually shut down a thermoelectric power plant in return for financial compensation (Hankyoreh Dec. 23, 2020). A French court recently rendered a symbolic verdict: that the government should pay damages for not responding properly to climate change. French president Macron also plans a referendum on changing the constitution to include a commitment to fight climate change and for the protection of eco-diversity and the environment in Article 1 Clause 1 (Kyunghyang Shinmun Feb. 4, 2021), In the US, newly inaugurated President Joseph Biden and his administration have introduced several measures and actions related to the climate, including appointing former Secretary of State John Kerry as climate envoy, rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, and pausing oil drilling leases on federal lands and waters until 2030.

In comparison, what is our current situation in Korea? Although our government announced the goal of achieving carbon neutrality and minimizing greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, administrative and legislative actions so far make us doubt that such goals could actually be achieved. “Approach [to climate justice] with a goal of green growth under the pressure of economic developmentalism, which creates only new profit opportunities for corporations while offering only doubtful solutions to the problems of inequality and climate crisis” (Han Jae-gak, Pressian Jan. 27, 2021) should be re-examined. It has now become clear that considering economic growth and climate justice as a choice between two incompatible alternatives or of formal compromise is anachronistic. Climate justice is not a matter of choice, one alternative among many, but a matter that requires immediate decision-making and action. Remembering the old wisdom that the most urgent task for a person struck by a poisoned arrow is not to analyze from which angle it entered or what kind of arrow it is, but to excise the life-threatening object from their body, how our decisions should be made becomes clearer.

 

The feature in this issue diagnoses how the existing world order is currently changing due to a serious split within the US and to fierce strategic competition between the US and China, exploring what directions our responses should take.

First, Lee Heajeong examines the meaning of the 2020 US presidential election. Tracing the trajectory of American history, composed of a series of promises, hypocrisy, and despair, Lee’s article adds meticulous and meaningful interpretations, while also commenting on the massacres of the native population, history of slavery and racism, and American exceptionalism. At the same time, it offers sharp analyses of what kinds of changes in ideological and policy orientation have been made during the transition from the Trump to Biden administrations, how each reconstructed American history, and how these reconstructed histories are different from the real one. It vividly depicts at what crossroads the US and Biden administration, and the entire world, are standing now.

Lee Nam Ju multi-dimensionally examines the concrete state of the US-China relationship and their strategic competition, which have recently emerged as an important variable and problem in the world order. The direction in which the US-China relationship evolves has grave implications not only for the Korean peninsula but also for worldwide international relations. Lee not only examines possible changing US-China relationship scenarios, based on different competitive phases in economic development and the military, technological, and geo-political elements, but also presents ways in which Korea can independently respond and the tasks it will require.

Diagnosing the “centrifugal forces” driving inter-Korean relationships into a stalemate, Kim Yeon-chul’s article gives us an overview of the current and future state of inter-Korean relationships. It empirically discusses what role South Korea can play amidst different variables, such as a newly formed US-China competition structure, North Korea’s strategy of regeneration based on self-effort, and the dilemma faced between sanctions and security. His specialist judgments and proposals concerning three tasks essential to a blueprint for the peace process on the Korean peninsula will play the role of a critical reference point in forecasting inter-Korean relationships.

In “Dialogue” we hear the voices of young people about societal problems that have become clearly visible in Korea due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Basic Income Youth Network activist Kim Juon, youth human rights activist Gonghyun, film director Lee-Kil Bora, and publication editor Lee Jin-hyuk share frank and vivid stories, based on their individual lives and political experiences. While critically examining our society’s craze for real estate and stocks, as well as its discourse on the youth based on a generation theory, they offer various opinions worth our attention and respect concerning an imagination oriented toward humane living, one that helps us to plan new political initiatives, such as basic income and common housing.

The two contributions in “Articles” are particularly thoughtful and profound. Paik Nak-chung’s article, which includes his review of “Dialogue: Climate Crisis and Systemic Transformation,” which was published in the previous issue of Changbi, revolves around his theory of a “proper level of growth,” in line with overcoming an economic growth ideology, in the context of systemic transformation. In this process, Paik also retraces his critical dialogue with late Green Review publisher Kim Jong-cheol, suggesting the possibility of a dialogue between Paik’s theory of the double project of modernity and Kim’s theory of a small nation. Above all, by emphasizing systemic transformation, accompanied by spiritual gaebyeok, through a marriage of the idea of hucheon gaebyeok and Heidegger’s concept of the age of technology, Paik offers a framework for enabling a transition from climate crisis and capitalism to a new type of civilization.

“Dialogue” discusses various aspects of current societal reality under the topic of “climate crisis and systemic transformation.” Kang Kyung-seok moderated this discussion about problems currently confronting us, such as substance and appearance in the Korean-style Green New Deal, the climate crisis and the division system, and the topic of post-developmentalism and the appropriate level of development, discussing these issues with Kim Sun-chul, Jeong Geon Hwa, and Chae Hyo-jeong, who have long studied the current ecological crisis. It is a dialogue essential and helpful to us, in which we examine why the strong awareness of the climate crisis in Korean society has not translated into better individual practices, and in which we explore and imagine alternatives from various angles.

In addition, in celebration of the publication of a critical biography of the late Lee Young-hee and an anthology of his writings last year in commemoration of his 10^th anniversary, Koo Kab-woo’s article newly illuminates the life and thought of Mr. Lee, often called a “teacher of thought,” throughout contemporary Korean history. It offers a unique overview of how independent intellectual Mr. Lee’s thoughts shone and were renewed in specific historical phases.

For “On the Scene,” Japanese civic activist Aoyagi Junichi diagnoses the process of the Japanese cabinet transition and Korea-Japan relations. While explaining what power dynamic changes operated during the cabinet transition from Abe to Suga, Aoyagi carefully examines matters that will have an important influence on future Korea-Japan relations, such as the Olympics, the problem of North Korea, and the after-effect of the Candlelight Revolution in Korea.

“Focus on Author” unfolds the life of the late poet Choi Jeongrye and the world of her poetry. After an extended fight with illness, poet Choi passed away while we were working on the current issue of Changbi. We share bereavement at the passing of this poet, who had been shining a bright light for so many people, by creating extraordinary poetic experiences out of ordinary moments and everyday life. Even during this difficult time of loss and grief, Poet Yi Geun Hwa, a close friend of the late poet, shares with us her memories of the poet’s life and voices, as well as her careful and heartfelt reading of the late poet’s work, from her first book of poems to Net of Light, her last. We send special thanks to poet Lee.

Each of two pieces of literary criticism shows the author’s individuality and themes. Han Young-in examines how recent Korean fiction depicts a changed labor reality, by analyzing the works of Chang Kang-myoung, Kim Hye-jin, and Kim Sehee. Focusing on the Korean labor market, which has been transformed into a dual structure, Han carefully examines in what perspectives the authors capture it and forcefully argues about their achievements and limitations. Listening attentively to the voices of recent Korean poems, Shin Hyungcheol attempts to newly construct poetic categories in which aesthetics and politics intersect. By examining excellent poems reflecting on the nature of citizenship, according to the categories of emotion, doubt, and action, Shin expands the viewpoint for more concretely discussing the relationship between poetry and politics.

We hope that the creative writings in this issue will be well read. “Poetry” abounds with moving pieces by 11 poets, while short stories by Moon Jinyoung, Park Sang-young, Sohn Won-pyung, Lee Hye-kyung, and Jeong Yi Hyun will reward readers with the joy of being absorbed into their fictional worlds. We’re also excited to begin serializing a novel by Choi Eunmi, which powerfully engages us from its first paragraph, not unlike poetry.

In “Literary Focus,” poet Shin Cheolgyu converses with two renowned guests: literary critic Jung Hong Su and poet Kim Haeja. Their detailed reading of six notable books of poetry and fiction, written by both newcomers and established authors, where they critically and faithfully examine the works’ virtues, will offer our readers a rewarding experience.

For “Essay,” former Minister of Labor Nam Jae-Hee contributed an essay retracing notable scenes in modern Korean political history based on the memoirs of former Army Chief of Staff Min Gi-sik, the minister’s own experiences with the general, and stories about him. Through this essay, we become intimately acquainted with the character of Min Gi-sik, a military man who turned into a politician, as well as aspects of the political world during the pre-democratization era, including that of the Park Chung-Hee regime, and the overall atmosphere of the times.

“Book Reviews” offer succinct evaluations of 11 select works, dealing with various subjects, including Korean classics and modern Chinese history, Covid-19 and the state of the medical and scientific fields, labor reality, and literary explorations. These are both useful guides to our readers and compact reading materials.

Another delight in our annual spring issue is works by the winners of the Daesan Literary Awards for college students. Strong pieces by the 19^th winners—Yi Se-in (poetry), Yi Jae-eun (fiction), Yun Yeo-gyeong (play), and Jeon Seung-min (criticism)—have arrived with fresh and unique characters. We believe that readers will experience the passion and talents of these young writers.

Lastly, we announce the news that literary critic Jeon Gi-hwa has joined our editorial board from this issue on.

 

We are greeting another spring. Going through the Covid-19 time, for more than a year, many of us have grown tired, both physically and mentally. To those in difficult situations, attention to their lives and words of comfort will be as precious as any other help. We take pride in the belief that Changbi has engaged for a long time in efforts to encourage people with words touched by the warmth of everyday life, while looking at reality from the perspective of the underprivileged and continuing to ask what is truly valuable in all of our lives. We hope that this issue of Changbi will help even a little bit in giving people a vivid experience in a new spring and in a place beyond frustration.

 

Song Jong-won