Ex
-Where
are you from?
-South
Korea.
-Oh,
that dangerous country? Wait a minute, is that North or South?
-…
-I
think it is the North. North Korea is the bad one. Right? South is kind. Isn’t
it like that?
-…
There is no North Korean embassy in South
Korea and there isn’t a South Korean embassy in North Korea. North and South
Koreans are in the relationship where even when they meet one another on the
street, they should ignore one another. Already 68 years have passed since
people of one ethnic group that has prolonged for five thousand years divided
into two because of their two different ideologies. Divided country, families
who have been separated in consequence. We pointed guns at our siblings;
fathers turned their face away from their own sons.
Around year 2007, stories and news about
Korea started to be told from radio stations (France info) in Paris. The
stories were not about the relationship between South and North Korea, but were
about only the North. North Korea… The stories were about North Korea’s nuclear
bombs, and thus the North started getting attentions from all around the world.
After that, I started to think about North Korea once again. The fact that I
myself am a Korean started to feel new and different. Sometimes when I meet new
French people and they ask me where I’m from, of course I answer back that I’m
from Korea. Then there is always this question that follows; whether I’m from
the North or the South. They knew the fact that Korea is separated into two
different countries. They ask me if I think there is going to be a war because
of North Korea’s nuclear bomb development, and if South Koreans are scared of
that. (…?) Suddenly my parents who are living in Korea now, came into my mind
and I called them. They tell me that nothing has happened.
I have never thought of North Korea as a
foreign country, or even a “different” country. Until when I came to France to
study, I’d never given myself time to actually think about North Korea
seriously. Even though I didn’t know much about North Korea, it was a place
that is part of “Korea (here meaning South Korea),” but somewhere that I can
never go. I was curious about “the place” though. Ten years have passed since I
came to live in France, and now I feel like I want to make the world know about
the story of North and South Korea, the story of the divided country. Since I’m away from the countries now, it gave
me the chance to look at the circumstance both more neutrally and more
specially. Korea has a unique history in which it seems like the two lovers
that have been together for a long time are separated from one another for
awhile, because of external environments. After that, the two are separately in
love with different people, but there’s a chance that actually, neither of the
two is together with anybody.
Where are we now? Did we move on too far to
become one again? <<If the moment that the powerful nations (China,
U.S., and England) mentioned comes, Korea will become an independent and free
country. ( le moment venu, la Corée devienne libre et indépendante) >>
Will this moment never come? If it will come, when will it be?
From an uncertain moment in the past, South
Korean society is not so enthusiastic about the reunification. The past 67
years made the separation look like our chronic destiny and we became too numb
about the separation. Hundreds and thousands of separated families are left
bruised and hurt inside their souls and minds, placed at corner of Korean
history like a piece of charcoal that’s slowly losing its flames. Although
Koreans think that we should reunify,
we keep holding back because there are just too many difficulties that we have
to get through for reunification. As more time goes by, less people are still
aching from the division. Will Koreas keep their agony from the separation? If
then, are we going to forget about the past’s irrationality and injustice? Are
the two “EXs” being cowards because they don’t have enough courage to persuade
one another? Is the South thinking that the North betrayed him, or is the North
thinking that the South has betrayed him? Can it be said that one has more responsibility
than another for this problem? Then, can’t they just forgive each other? What
is the price for betrayal? Even if it is the case where both of them are to be
blamed, if they do not apologize simultaneously, doesn’t that make it
one-sided?
Is it only a problem between the couple?—
The South and the North, the North and China, the North and Russia, the U.S.
and the South, the South and China, the U.S. and Russia… Indeed, it is a very
complicated and intertwined international problem. Our descendents will live
without knowing who our neighboring country, the sibling of ours, the country
with same ethnic group, is.
But if our brother, North Korea keeps
insisting that we are one country and that we are from same ancestors, aren’t
there going to be conflicts for problems such as inheritance?
Whether we divorce, postpone our divorce,
or reunify… Will it be possible for the two Koreas to become one again? Will it
be better off the two finding new lovers? Are the two Koreas still charming to
each other? It is impossible for North Korea to stay as a country when
globalization is happening and when the nation is constantly being threatened
by several powerful nations. Are the two nations missing the sweet times of
their marriage life? : They had shared so many centuries but for the last 68 years….
The Project Ex which consists of eight
artists, comprise performances, installations, videos, photos, sculptures, and
texts. Four South Korean, two French, one Japanese, and one Taiwanese artist
participated in the project. They thought about feelings of being separated,
unsolved questions, difficult reunification, unreasonable incidents that had
happened around them, conflicts and confrontations, and the breaks they took
while waiting for reunification with their lovers and started working regarding
the matters. They worked on the project
while comparing the tragic division of Korea with their life events. DMZ is a
place which was born to unarm the border of two separated Koreas. Consequently,
it is a place where social, political, and military tensions are wide spread
and thus, is a very interesting place.
If artists approach such questions for division/reunification
sometimes personally and sometimes generally, won’t it be easier for many
people to understand the current problems and circumstances that two Koreas are
dealing with?
During a flood, a streak of deem light from
far away makes it easier for people to see the world through rain-fog. I plan
this exposition with a hope for people from two Koreas to stop looking at the
problem with their eyes wide-open, but instead, start worrying with their hands
held together, for a one beautiful Korea.
December
11th, 2012, Paris
Min,
Hongsun
