AS student reflects on the “place where we touch North Korea”

By Youngbean Cho, student in the Asian Studies Major

A field trip to the Information Center on North Korea (북한자료센터) at the National Library of Korea, Seoul
Prof Yeonhee Kim’s class North Korea: History, Culture, Politics

It was a valuable experience at the National Library of Korea, where I could feel North Korea as if I were standing right in the middle of the country. On the fifth floor, North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun (노동신문), along with magazines and textbooks, were on display. Until then, the North Korea I had encountered through films and dramas had been nothing more than a constructed image. So, it was fascinating to directly encounter North Korean media, almost as if I were looking at something I was not supposed to see. The experience of physically touching and reading the original newspapers left me curious and open-minded.

As the meaning of “unification” seems to fade as generations pass, the National Library of Korea’s North Korean Information Center offered an answer to why North Korea still deserves study. Not only because the Korean peninsula is technically at war, but the reasons also lie in a shared ethnic identity as well as the long-term possibility of cooperation. In an era of low birth rates and an aging population, North Korea could even serve as a key resource for the economic stability and cultural strength of future generations. Therefore, the Ministry of Unification dedicated specifically to the tasks to a divided nation plays a necessary role and the foundation of more North Korean Information Centers around the country is highly needed.