Dangun's box of bones

By Jason Lim

Reuters recently published a story titled, "North Korea's box of bones: A mythical king and the dream of Korean unification." It claims that Dangun, although a myth, nevertheless has the narrative power to be the unifying cultural lynchpin for an eventual Korean reunification.

Dangun, and the proto-Korean kingdom he founded named Gojoseon, makes his first literary appearance in Samguk Yusa, a collection of informal histories, stories, and fables about Goguryeo, Silla and Baekje, as well as Korean kingdoms prior to the Three Kingdoms Era. It's considered a more Korean-centric version of history than Samguk Sagi, which was a formal compilation of ancient Korean history compiled during the 918-1392 Goryeo Dynasty and has often been accused of catering to the Chinese version of Northeast Asian history.

So, even from the beginning, Dangun was symbolic of indigenous Korean people's narrative autonomy against its perpetually powerful and neighboring empire in China. There's not much to indicate Dangun played a big role during the 1392-1910 Joseon period. However, as popular resistance rose against the forced takeover of Joseon by Imperial Japan, Dangun was recast as an indigenous religious figure.

Na Cheol, known for his role as a leader of the Korean independence movement from Japanese rule, founded a religion based on Dangun in 1909. Called Daejonggyo, the religion dominated the ranks of independence fighters during the Japanese colonial era. It served as the sacred, foundational and indigenous Korean narrative that inspired the independence fighters against foreign invaders.

"Stories are a communal currency of humanity," according to Tahir Shah in Arabian Nights. Stories around Dangun were certainly the communal currency of the Korean people yearning to be independent, free and autonomous. They not only wanted to be free from the cruel, physical subjugation of the foreigners and their own rulers but also yearned for a story that would call them to a higher purpose and meaning as Korean people, and give them a provenance along which they can trace backwards to a glorious and righteous past that could be reimagined for a brighter future.

This is not unlike multiple other myths around the world. I am pretty sure every self-identified "people" has such a myth that unifies them; after all, looks and genetics have limited utility when trying to judge membership in a people. In this day and age, no people are homogenous enough (and probably have never been). So, it's the myth that defines a people. Belief into that myth is the price of communal membership.

North and South Korea are different nations that have walked vastly different paths since the division in 1945. However, the trauma of Japanese colonialism is a key cultural underpinning that unites them still. And Dangun played a huge part in Korean self-empowerment during those subjugated years.

While Reuters' snide criticism over a mere myth having the power to unify the Koreas is valid, it's missing the point in a way. Dangun is the narrative anchor in a defensive ethno-nationalism that both Koreas still ascribe to strongly. Note that I said defensive. Korean nationalism seems to be inwardly directly, not expansionist. It's not the Imperial Japan proclaiming noblesse oblige to justify its conquests of Asia or today's China looking to recover the glory of Han rule across every corner of its territory and beyond. Korean nationalism seems to be more about defending its ethnic identity from invaders ― its emphasis on homogeneity, purity and common provenance speak to this defensive tendency. We are all Dangun's children and all that.

As in other Asian nations, it is important for Korean leaders to have "Heaven's Mandate" to govern, especially in a virtual monarchy like North Korea. The Kim dynasty partially claims this symbolic legitimacy from Dangun. In fact, as mentioned in the Reuters article, North Korean archaeologists have conveniently discovered the supposed royal tomb of Dangun near Pyongyang and restored it to its grandeur, in an obvious attempt to link the mystical aura of Korea's original king to the current regime.

Kim's legitimacy depends largely on presenting his dynastic rule as a patriotic house that has kept Korea's people intact and pure from foreign invaders and is transitioning the country to prosperity after heroically securing the nation through nukes. For any deal with North Korea on nukes and other matters, there has to be an implicit offer of such an "honored place in history" in order to convince Kim Jong-un to compromise.

When President Moon harks back to the 5,000 years of shared history based on the Dangun narrative as a key point that connects the two Koreans as one people, he's intentionally drawing the membership boundary that includes both Koreas. Without this shared narrative, any coming together of North and South Korea won't be a reunification; it would be an invasion or usurpation.

Jason Lim (jasonlim@msn.com) is a Washington, D.C.-based expert on innovation, leadership and organizational culture.