• Cross-Cultural Studies
• /
• v.52
• /
• pp.223-251
• /
• 2018

This paper comparatively considered how Korea and Japan address the concept of 'postwar' in descriptions of their literary history. In Japan, 'postwar' refers to the period after World War II (Asia-Pacific War). This word implies a variety of contexts such as collapse, poverty, confusion, calendar reform, reconstruction and restoration as well as a series of historical events such as war, war defeat, and American occupation; and so it has been treated in Japanese society a significant period. In the history of Korean literature, it is after national liberation that the word 'postwar' appeared; however, it has usually indicated 'the period after the Korean War.' The question is that although the term of postwar refers to periods after different wars, Koreans used the term of postwar also in the same way as Japan, and their concept of postwar overlaps with the concept of prewar or postwar used in Japan, and accordingly, side effects are produced that fail to grasp properly the independent characteristics and significance of the Korean War. In conclusion, the Korean War brought about contrasting effects on the history of Korean and Japanese literature. While the Korean War meant a start after the war in Korean literature, it became a turning point marking the end of postwar in Japanese literature. Such different perceptions on postwar also have major implications in that perceptions represent postwar discourses in today's Korea and Japan.

• Journal of architectural history
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.125-138
• /
• 2018

During the 1950s, the North Koreans rebuilt their capital-Pyongyang-as a modern city under the principle of Soviet urban design. One North Korean architect, Kim Jung-hee, has been widely credited since the late 1980s as the master architect of the General Plan of the city's reconstruction. While Kim Jung-hee played a crucial role in its reconstruction, his heroic image as the founding architect of Pyongyang is considerably attributed to North Korea's mythical narratives rather than his historical activities. This paper argues that Pyongyang's postwar urban design was not a work made by a single actor, Kim Jung-hee; rather, it was a long-term collaborative project in which a team of North Korean architects and Soviet technical advisors took their respective roles. Beginning in the late 1980s, North Korea, which had been struggling with economic decline and an increasing sense of lagging behind in its rivalry with its Southern counterpart, used heroic narratives during the 1950s' postwar reconstruction period as an important propaganda tool for their regime. In this mythical narrative of Pyongyang's reconstruction, massive economic and technical aid from other communist countries has often disappeared, and the memory of the architects who contributed greatly to the reconstruction but later purged in North Korea have also completely vanished. Kim Jung-hee, meanwhile, remained in this epic as the founding architect who rebuilt the city in faithful accordance with the leadership of Kim Il Sung.

• Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Planning & Design
• /
• v.35 no.4
• /
• pp.115-126
• /
• 2019

Construction of the Pyongyang Railroad Station began in 1907 as an important foothold for the Japanese colonization of the Korean Peninsula and the further invasion of Manchuria. As Pyongyang gradually grew in size and political significance, the Pyongyang Station came to have two responsibilities: Fulfill its functional role and serve as a monument to the growing dignity of the city. This study argues that the Pyongyang Station, newly rebuilt in 1958, was the first building to solve the demands for both functional expansion and the pursuit of monumentality. Stylistically, the original single-story wooden building became a three-story classical masonry building. The stylistic change symbolizes the political shift by which the building was reconstructed. The simple wooden building built by the Japanese, representing Pyongyang's status as a colonial provincial town, was transformed into an imposing gateway for the capital city of a newly born socialist state. Socialist Realism, correctly described by its slogan "socialist in content and national in form," harmoniously blended classical architecture, socialist symbols, and Korean local motifs. This study is significant in that it illustrates the historical changes and continuity of the Pyongyang Station from 1907, when it was first built, through the "liberated space" to the postwar reconstruction period of the 1950s.

• Journal of the Korean housing association
• /
• v.19 no.6
• /
• pp.137-144
• /
• 2008

Public housing problem became a major issue in each European country during the period of the reconstruction. This study focuses on the one of the major institutional policies in the public housing sectors in Europe during the second postwar period, specifically the INA (Istituto Nazionale delle Assicurazioni)-Casa in Italy from 1949 to 1963. Thanks to the financial Aid provided by 'Marshall Plan' of United States government, Italy initiated INA-Casa housing program elaborated and realized by minister of Labour, Amintore Fanfani. He was strongly influenced by catholic socialism and Weberian corporatism, and also had previously written theoretical studies on the subject during the Interwar years. The outcome of this policy had been devaluated for its Keynesian aspect as well as vernacular predominance in the architectural forms. On the contrary, this study focuses on themes such as continuity of politics before and after the Liberation, status of the architects and their will to social engagement, notion of quarter as 'self-sufficient community' and 'residential unit'. These factors will allow to comprehend the complex nature of the reality where different categories were involved to resolve the common housing problem.

• Korean Security Journal
• /
• no.42
• /
• pp.423-447
• /
• 2015

This paper gives analyses on the historical origin where features from social punishment and re-socialization in North Korea have been developed. The process of the development largely consists of three periods, that is, the period of nation construction (1945-1950), the period of Korean War (1950-1953), the period of nation reconstruction (1950-1961). This paper provides that features from punishment and re-socialization have been developed during the historical transformation from pre-Korean War to post-Korean War. The 'wartime socialism system' had been established in the course of reconstruction of postwar nation. In the system, North Korean had been embraced into the structure of re-socialization in its production unit and living space.