The Programme Now on My Way to Meet You and Its Impact on Exchanges between North Korean Defectors and South Koreans
Kwon, Jung (2019-04-26)
The Programme Now on My Way to Meet You and Its Impact on Exchanges between North Korean Defectors and South Koreans
Kwon, Jung
(26.04.2019)
Julkaisu on tekijänoikeussäännösten alainen. Teosta voi lukea ja tulostaa henkilökohtaista käyttöä varten. Käyttö kaupallisiin tarkoituksiin on kielletty.
suljettu
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on:
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2019062621927
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2019062621927
Tiivistelmä
This research explores media impact on minority’s social relations through the case of the South Korean TV talk-show Now on My Way to Meet You which stereotypes female North Korean defectors as ‘Others’. Using media’s ability and ‘Othering’, South Korean media has played a role in shaping South Koreans’ negative perception of North Korean defectors. This has resulted in prejudice, misunderstanding and discrimination toward North Korean defectors, worsening their social relationship. This research examines how the representation of the TV talk-show affected real-life exchanges between North Korean defectors and South Koreans. By doing so, this research aims to increase awareness of the stereotyping of North Korean defectors in South Korean media and exposes how the distorted image of North Korean defectors as Others serves as an obstacle to friendship building between South Koreans and North Korean defectors.
As for the research subject, this paper explores the direct exchanges and ongoing discussions in the North Korean defectors’ online community which accepts South Korean audiences of the TV programme as members. Employing a participant observation method founded in digital ethnography, the fieldwork in the online community is conducted in five phases. The fieldwork provides five levels of deepening interactions and exchanges observed from different membership statuses of the researcher in the online community, involving offline exchanges. The gathered data is analyzed by qualitative content analysis method. In this procedure, this research pays attention to the activities of the main audiences of the TV show (mid-aged South Korean males), which has not been considered in previous researches.
The key result is that the distorted image of North Korean female defectors as ‘beauty’ in the TV show stereotyped and stigmatized North Korean female defectors as sexual subjects, causing psychological stress to North Korean defectors and enacting their mistrust and protective actions; in turn, causing growing conflict in exchange with South Koreans. North Korean female defectors are concerned about South Koreans stigmatizing them as dating or marriage subjects, and North Koreans worry that their community could be seen as a marriage agency. To act against this stigmatization, North Korean defectors are collectively expelling South Korean males from further exchanges where they are suspected to be aiming only at dating. North Korean defectors believe that the TV show strengthens South Koreans’ feeling of superiority, which encourages the audiences to act out their desire derived from the distorted image in the TV show. From social psychological approaches, this paper suggests the threat of ethnicized stigmatization and self-protective properties of social stigma as a core theory to understand the mechanisms of the struggles found in the exchanges.
This research concludes that the impact of commercial media representation of North Korean female defectors on the relationship improvement between North Korean defectors and South Koreans is negative. Further research focusing on gender discrimination in the representation of North Korean female defectors in media could be followed to establish the various factors that influence the minority’s social status and relationship.
As for the research subject, this paper explores the direct exchanges and ongoing discussions in the North Korean defectors’ online community which accepts South Korean audiences of the TV programme as members. Employing a participant observation method founded in digital ethnography, the fieldwork in the online community is conducted in five phases. The fieldwork provides five levels of deepening interactions and exchanges observed from different membership statuses of the researcher in the online community, involving offline exchanges. The gathered data is analyzed by qualitative content analysis method. In this procedure, this research pays attention to the activities of the main audiences of the TV show (mid-aged South Korean males), which has not been considered in previous researches.
The key result is that the distorted image of North Korean female defectors as ‘beauty’ in the TV show stereotyped and stigmatized North Korean female defectors as sexual subjects, causing psychological stress to North Korean defectors and enacting their mistrust and protective actions; in turn, causing growing conflict in exchange with South Koreans. North Korean female defectors are concerned about South Koreans stigmatizing them as dating or marriage subjects, and North Koreans worry that their community could be seen as a marriage agency. To act against this stigmatization, North Korean defectors are collectively expelling South Korean males from further exchanges where they are suspected to be aiming only at dating. North Korean defectors believe that the TV show strengthens South Koreans’ feeling of superiority, which encourages the audiences to act out their desire derived from the distorted image in the TV show. From social psychological approaches, this paper suggests the threat of ethnicized stigmatization and self-protective properties of social stigma as a core theory to understand the mechanisms of the struggles found in the exchanges.
This research concludes that the impact of commercial media representation of North Korean female defectors on the relationship improvement between North Korean defectors and South Koreans is negative. Further research focusing on gender discrimination in the representation of North Korean female defectors in media could be followed to establish the various factors that influence the minority’s social status and relationship.