Diasporic Elements in the Post-liberation Works of Yom Sang-seop

Kumar, Rajesh (author)

The post-liberation era of Korea witnessed a state of confusion and turmoil. The neo-colonial powers and advent of the Cold War led to a partition of the peninsular. By the time Korea earned its independence a considerable number of Koreans were living in Manchuria and other parts of the world, forming the Korean diaspora, and independence led many of these to “return” to home. Yom Sang-seop wrote extensively about the theme of this “return” in his post-liberation novels. However, there is barely any research that has explored the diasporic elements in this author’s novels. His post liberation works focused on the partition of the country, the ideological divide among the common people, and their plight as refugees. In his works Yom Sang-seop wrote about the life of Korean people living in Manchuria and their journey back to the Korean peninsula after liberation. His works after the liberation and before the outbreak of the Korean war show a common tendency of diaspora literature, where the central themes are the refugee crisis, ideological divide, displacement, and problems related to housing in the newly established countries of North and South Korea. The paper will focus on his novels and short stories discuss the diasporic aspects in his works.

• Language: English
• Keywords: diaspora, post-liberation, Korea, Manchuria, homecoming, disillusionment
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 17.03.2025
• Number of pages: Str. 91-109
• Numbering: Vol. 13, no. suppl.
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-178232
• ISSN: 2232-5131
• eISSN: 2350-4226
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2025.13.sup.91-109
• Publication date in RUL: 21.01.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Asian studies
• Publisher: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 2232-5131
• COBISS.SI-ID: 265206272

Licences

• License: CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
• Description: This Creative Commons license is very similar to the regular Attribution license, but requires the release of all derivative works under this same license.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Diasporični elementi v delih Yom Sang-seopa po osvoboditvi

Abstract

V času po osvoboditvi Koreje sta vladala zmeda in nemir. Neokolonialne sile in hladna vojna so pripeljale do delitve polotoka. V času, ko si je Koreja priborila neodvisnost, je precejšnje število Korejk in Korejcev živelo v Mandžuriji in drugih delih sveta ter tvorilo korejsko diasporo, zaradi neodvisnosti pa so se mnogi med njimi »vrnili« v domovino. Yom Sang-seop je v svojih romanih po osvoboditvi veliko pisal o tem »vračanju«; vendar pa skorajda ni raziskav, ki bi proučevale diasporične elemente v romanih tega avtorja. Njegova dela po osvoboditvi so se osredotočala na razdelitev države, ideološke razlike med preprostimi ljudmi in njihovo stisko kot begunk in beguncev. Yom Sang-seop je v svojih delih pisal o življenju Korejk in Korejcev v Mandžuriji ter njihovi poti nazaj na korejski polotok po osvoboditvi. V njegovih delih po osvoboditvi in pred izbruhom korejske vojne se kaže skupna težnja diasporne literature, kjer so osrednje teme begunska kriza, ideološki razkol, razseljevanje ter problemi, povezani z nastanitvijo v novoustanovljenih državah Severne in Južne Koreje. Članek se bo osredotočil na njegove romane in kratke zgodbe ter obravnaval diasporične vidike v njegovih delih.

• Keywords: diaspora, po osvoboditvi, Koreja, Mandžurija, vrnitev domov, razočaranje