|
(Yonhap Interview) N. Korean issue gets personal to Japan-born Korean artist
By Kim Young-gyo
SHANGHAI, May 24 (Yonhap) -- North Korea is drawing keen attention from media and visitors to the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai as it is the first time the secretive country has advertised itself at the biennial global showcase.
Amid growing geopolitical tensions on the Korean Peninsula after North Korea was found to be responsible for sinking a South Korean warship in March, Japan-born Korean artist Nam HyoJun takes a more personal approach to the North Korean issues.
Nam is holding an exhibition entitled "Prosperous North Korean Contemporary Art" at Vanguard Gallery in Shanghai's Moganshan art district. Slated to run until June 13, it features paintings, video and an installation.
Being a third-generation Korean in Japan, Nam attended a pro-North Korean school all his life before going to college. He depicts images of North Korea in a way that's considered taboo in the communist regime.
In Nam's work, North Korean flags are scattered on the floor, while portraits of "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung, his deceased father and state-founder, are drawn only in silhouette without facial features.
"I shall be either harshly rebuked or highly praised (by North Korea)," the Kyoto, Japan-based artist said in a recent interview with Yonhap News Agency at the Shanghai gallery where his solo exhibition opened last week.
Motifs for his work came while he was searching for his identity, Nam explained.
"I was born and living in Japan, a country where many people are not interested in national or political issues. Japanese people rarely display patriotism or support for their own country," he said. | | Nam_HyoJun |
"But, at the same time, I was being educated at the (North Korean) ethnic school in Japan, where I learned the Korean language and Korean history."
Nam's grandfather, who was originally from the South Korean city of Miryang, crossed the waters to Japan during the 1950-53 Korean War.
The artist said that it was natural for him to attend the pro-North Korean school where his parents also studied, as it was the first school built for ethnic Koreans in Japan.
"I studied at the pro-North Korean school, but my ancestors are from part of South Korea. And I live in Japan. Who am I? It was difficult for me," he said.
The tragic history of the Korean peninsula transformed into a family matter when it came to Korean-Japanese families. Parents often had to choose whether their children should live as pro-North Korean, pro-South Korean or even as Japanese.
"The Korean Peninsula being divided into two and engaged in warfare is an epic story," he said. "However, it would become very personal to us."
He said that his parents "chose" to send him to the pro-North Korean school and that "his destiny was determined according to that choice."
He recalled a school day on June 15, 2000, when the two Koreas issued a South-North Joint Declaration, calling for the establishment of a permanent peace regime on the peninsula and ending military hostility. He was then 13.
"We did not have any classes that day, because teachers did not come to classes. I went to the teachers' room to see what was happening, and they were crying watching the televised declaration. It was as if the unification of the two Koreas would take place any time soon," Nam said.
But two years later, the communist state's past abduction of Japanese nationals hit Japan.
"Students did not know how to react. It was as if we were beaten hard on our heads. We did not know how to react or what to believe. It was a traumatic experience," Nam said.
After the abduction issue, there was a time when his school took down portraits of the "great father and son" of North Korea from the walls, he recollected.
"We became very scared, because it was what should not have happened," he said, reminiscing on his high school years.
A few years ago, Nam attained South Korean nationality.
"All the ethnic Koreans born in Japan are given nationalities of Joseon, which no longer exists in the world," he said. Joseon is the name of a kingdom that existed on the Korean peninsula from 1392 to 1910 Japan calls Pyongyang North Joseon.
"Some of my friends remain Joseon nationals, and others became South Koreans or Japanese," he said. "They rarely choose to become North Korean."
On the exhibition wall, Nam put up his versions of a North Korean flag together with a sign saying "Paradise for People."
"When I went to see the North Korean pavilion at the Expo and saw the 'Paradise for People' sign, I was struck," the artist said.
"What they were showing there was exactly the same what I was shown at the Minzok (ethnic) school 10 years ago. I guess what they are trying to appeal is to show North Korea they believe to be at its height."
ygkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
|
Home
