Social media and videoblogging, or vlogging, are taking over the internet and North Korea is joining this trend. While doing so, the state is reaching out to the international community through...Show moreSocial media and videoblogging, or vlogging, are taking over the internet and North Korea is joining this trend. While doing so, the state is reaching out to the international community through relatable media content and soft power tools. One of the examples, in which North Korea reached out to the international viewer, is the Youtube channel ‘Echo of Truth’. This research aims to answer the question as to how soft power tools are applied in the videos of ‘Echo of Truth’. By using a qualitative visual discourse analysis, it analyzes the videos of ‘Echo of Truth’ to answer this question. This thesis argues that soft power tools, such as cultural and culinary diplomacy, are applied in the videos in order to make these videos more relatable to the international audience. However, not all the videos were found to have used these soft power techniques as traditional propaganda videos were still uploaded to the channel. The sheer differences found in the channel’s videos raised the question of a power dilemma the channel seemed to be facing.Show less
Despite the great efforts taken by the South Korean government to preserve the once highly regarded folk art, p’ansori is quickly becoming less relevant in Korean daily life. Nevertheless, a band...Show moreDespite the great efforts taken by the South Korean government to preserve the once highly regarded folk art, p’ansori is quickly becoming less relevant in Korean daily life. Nevertheless, a band called LEENALCHI was able to score a hit in 2020 with their song “Tiger is Coming”. The song is based on a p’ansori epic and is sung in p’ansori style, but it contains a twist. LEENALCHI creates fusion music, which is music that combines Korean traditional music and contemporary music. With their ‘new’ version of p’ansori, LEENALCHI is gaining much popularity in Korea and they are now the face of both the Korean Tourism Organization as well as several brands. Their presence in the Korean entertainment industry thus ensures that p’ansori, which was facing extinction despite the support of the Korean government, has once again become part of lived Korean culture. This thesis tries to examine how LEENALCHI is able to repurpose p’ansori and consequently popularize a form of intangible cultural heritage that has been struggling to keep up in relevance. In doing so, this thesis establishes how intangible cultural heritage can be repurposed even when preservation seems to become increasingly complicated.Show less
Overconsumption of alcohol is detrimental to one's health, and is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. According to World Health Organization (WHO) statistics, Korea has the highest amount...Show moreOverconsumption of alcohol is detrimental to one's health, and is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. According to World Health Organization (WHO) statistics, Korea has the highest amount of alcohol consumption per capita in all of Asia, and has notably high rates of Alcohol Use Disorders (AUDs). The neighbouring country of Japan is similar to Korea in numerous ways, but has significantly lower rates of consumption and AUDs. This poses the question in which ways Japan differs from Korea, and whether they tackle alcoholism in more effective ways. This thesis aims to find ways in which Korea could improve the current situation following the example of a similar country Therefore, both societies are compared by critically analysing secondary literature on factors that affect alcohol consumption: culture, age of onset, availability, affordability, mental health, religion, and restrictive measures. Results show that while both societies heavily emphasize alcohol consumption, Korea could learn from Japan's attention to mental health research and development, and wider variety of sobriety groups. However, any conclusive evidence is yet to be found. More extensive and longitudinal research on this subject is therefore necessary.Show less
This thesis focuses on the implication of the film Jiseul as a medium of cultural memory of the Jeju 4.3 Uprising and justifies its arguments with an anlysis of the visual images and contextual...Show moreThis thesis focuses on the implication of the film Jiseul as a medium of cultural memory of the Jeju 4.3 Uprising and justifies its arguments with an anlysis of the visual images and contextual meaning in the film.Show less
This thesis explores the fields of gender, sexuality, and military studies to determine how military service and militarism contribute to the exponential growth in incidents of spy cameras and...Show moreThis thesis explores the fields of gender, sexuality, and military studies to determine how military service and militarism contribute to the exponential growth in incidents of spy cameras and revenge porn in South Korea. The focus is placed on the role of the military and mandatory military service in South Korean society and how conscription constitutes masculinity, diffuses ideas, beliefs, and values among young Korean men, and how this can have an influence on their behavior. Factors such as the instilment of military values, domination and control, the militarized culture of sexuality, and gender power structures within the military draft system are of particular importance. This paper shows that military conscription and militarism contribute to an intensification of the frictions between gender and sexuality within Korean society through the systematic promotion of hypermasculinity. In this regard, this thesis argues that Korean women have been continuously portrayed as the weaker and lesser ‘other’ by the military over the course of history, and that this othering has helped affirm masculinity and dominance over the ‘weaker’ other, which in turn legitimizes and contributes to sexual violence. Here, the internet provides a communal space for the extension of sexual violence, and with this the exercise of this dominance over and shaming of the ‘other’ with more ease and anonymity, which contributes to the growing spy camera and revenge porn epidemic in South Korea.Show less
Korean society has made great strides forward in gender representation in the last decade, yet mainstream media often encourages stereotypes and binary gender roles. However, the genre conventions...Show moreKorean society has made great strides forward in gender representation in the last decade, yet mainstream media often encourages stereotypes and binary gender roles. However, the genre conventions of historical fusion and fantasy combine elements of imagination and otherness that can engage in discussion on gender and represent gender in an alternative, more open, way. It addresses a contemporary issue yet is not bounded by the restrictions of today’s society. To analyze the potential positive representation of the genres, this thesis analyzes the Korean historical fantasy fusion drama Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo (hereafter Moon Lovers) (2016). In order to study the alternative representations within mainstream media, this thesis looks at how the series’ representation of gender is in line with gender normativity. The leading research question is: Does Moon Lovers break gender normativity? The study was conducted through film analysis and guided by gender theory. In conclusion, Moon Lovers does not break with gender normativity. However, the potential of the genres to represent gender in an alternative way still require further study.Show less
The June 2018 Trump-Kim summit in Singapore was symbolically significant to both countries. This Thesis examines whether it and it immediate aftermath fulfill the criteria for a constructivist...Show moreThe June 2018 Trump-Kim summit in Singapore was symbolically significant to both countries. This Thesis examines whether it and it immediate aftermath fulfill the criteria for a constructivist approach.Show less
In this thesis, a comparative analysis of the depiction of Kim Il Sung and the depiction of Kim Jong Il in North Korean thematic paintings (chujehwa) is conducted in order to determine how these...Show moreIn this thesis, a comparative analysis of the depiction of Kim Il Sung and the depiction of Kim Jong Il in North Korean thematic paintings (chujehwa) is conducted in order to determine how these paintings reflect the personality cults of the two leaders and whether there are any differences and similarities in the way the two leaders are depicted.Show less
Park Geun-hye, the daughter of South Korea's former president Park Chung-hee, won the presidential elections of 2012 with the majority of the votes. December 2016 she was impeached from her...Show morePark Geun-hye, the daughter of South Korea's former president Park Chung-hee, won the presidential elections of 2012 with the majority of the votes. December 2016 she was impeached from her position as president, and her biggest rival from the 2012 elections, Moon Jae-in, went on to win the 2017 elections by a landslide. This thesis aims to provide an insight on the generational differences in the presidential elections of 2007, 2012, and 2017 by using public opinion surveys and election polls. This thesis finds that a generation gap is highly present in South Korea. In presidential elections older age cohorts are generally on the conservative side, however, younger age cohorts are neither conservative nor progressive. Instead, they should be labelled as swing voters. Whether this will change in the future due to the life-cycle effect is something that needs to be studied further.Show less
This BA thesis researches the representation of three Western TV personalities in South Korea through critical discourse analysis of four recent popular Korean TV programs starring foreigners. It...Show moreThis BA thesis researches the representation of three Western TV personalities in South Korea through critical discourse analysis of four recent popular Korean TV programs starring foreigners. It examines how the Korean media creates images of Western expats and how these images are adopted in other programs to fit their discourses. This research argues that the Korean media intends to convey positive discourses of multiculturalism in which notions of friendship and hospitality are central by adapting the images of Tyler Rasch (United States), Daniel Lindemann (Germany) and Alberto Mondi (Italy). It criticizes the Korean media for its lack of diversity in its recent surge of programs featuring foreigners. Even though programs featuring foreigners are becoming more popular and familiar among its Korean audience, this research argues that they are Eurocentric by illustrating how the media uses images of Western expats.Show less
