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TheNew Right (Korean: 뉴라이트;RR: nyuraiteu) movement inSouth Koreanpolitics is a school of political thought which developed as a reaction against the traditional divide between conservatives (the "old right") and progressives. The New Right broke from past conservatives, who supportedstate intervention in the economy, by promotingeconomically liberal ideas. Many figures of the New Right have also become notable for criticisingKim Ku andanti-Japanese sentiment in South Korea. The movement was initiated by former pro–North Korean activists and communists.[1] Opponents of the New Right movement described this as anti-leftism, military dictatorship advocates, pseudo right-wing, anti-ethnonationalism, pro-sadaejuui, and "pro-Japanese identity".[2] While engaging inanti-communist activities that resonate with many Koreans, they also makeanti-Korean remarks, causing many to feel a sense of aversion and suspicion toward them.
Before theera of democratisation, South Korea had been ruled almost continuously by a series of dictatorships, such as those ofSyngman Rhee andPark Chung Hee. These regimes were characterised by stringentanti-communism,ethnonationalism,authoritarianism, andstate capitalism, and as a result these attributes came to be seen as hallmarks of the older generation of Korean conservatives. After 1987, following democratisation, conservatives adapted and modified their previous positions in order to counteract the rising successes of left-wing activism in South Korean politics.[3]
Nonetheless, the conservative parties of the old style continued to hold a negative association with corruption of the past for many, and throughout the 1990s and into the early 2000s,progressivism characterised by support forsocial liberalism and a soft attitude towardsNorth Korea became dominant in politics. As a result of this, a number ofreform-minded right-wing groups known as the "New Right" developed in the 2000s as a reaction to the ascendency of these progressives, whose ideology they considered harmful. Like the old conservatives, they opposed left-wing economic policies and a soft attitude toward North Korea. However, they also attempted to distance themselves from the sins of the older right-wing, which they viewed as stagnant and out-of-touch. Describing themselves as "rational conservatives," these groups expressed a more flexible attitude towardsNorth Korea through a willingness to recognise it as a separate country and to provide humanitarian aid for the citizens of North Korea. However, they balanced this with ananti-communist attitude and a support forfree-market economic policies. They also rejected the totalitarianism of the past and placed an emphasis oncivil rights andliberty; overall, their views were associated withclassical liberalism.[3][4]
Initially, these "New Right" groups contained many figures connected to the traditional conservative establishment and as a result they struggled to differentiate themselves from old-school conservatives for a time.[4] This could be seen following the victory of conservativeLee Myung-bak in the2007 presidential election; Lee's administration succeeded in replacing many progressive members of government-affiliated deliberative and advisory committees with members of "New Right" organisations. Lee's successor,Park Geun-hye (the eldest daughter of dictator Park Chung Hee), continued to maintain close relationships with these modern conservative social groups, even as her administration displayed an antagonistic attitude towards anti-government demonstrations andlabor strikes.[5]
Unlike the moderate early New Right movement in the 2000s, the New Right movement has become increasingly extreme since the 2010s. Some New Right scholars have come under criticism for supporting the historical revisionist and extreme right-wing view ofGwangju Uprising.[6]
There is an evaluation that the pro-Japanese New Right movement has a direct or indirect effect on the foreign policy of the Yoon Suk Yeol government.[7][8][9]
The New Right's view of modern and contemporary Korean history is known to be contrary to the view ofprogressive Korean nationalists.[10] The New Right movement is led by descendants of those who collaborated with theJapanese imperialism andShōwa Statism (國家主義) during the time whenKorea was a Japanese colony.[11] The New Right movement opposesKorean ethnic nationalism (민족주의; 民族主義) and is a radical advocate for South Korean-basedstate nationalism (국가주의; 國家主義); they oppose anti-Japanese ethno-nationalism, positively evaluate the history of modernization caused by Japanese colonial rule and support the view that South Korea was founded in 1948, when the official government was established, not 1919, when theProvisional Government was established, which has been criticized by opponents for downplaying the history of theindependence movement.[12][13][14]
New Right scholars try to promotepro-American (친미; 親美) andpro-Japanese (친일; 親日) sentiment among South Koreans. South Korea's New Rightists have a strong anti-communist perception of North Korea and a favorable perception of Japan, an ally with the United States, because they have a stronger pro-American sentiment than liberal-to-progressives. According to South Korean political experts, the New Right movement is based on the Koreansadaejuui sentiment.[2]
New Right movement has often been criticized by many South Korean media and experts for being "reactionary"[15][16][17] or "far-right".[2][18]
There is a controversy that New Right scholars support the colonialist view of Japanese people.[19] New Right scholars have been criticized socially for accepting Japanesehistorical revisionism forJapanese war crimes.[20] EvenHong Joon-pyo, known as a hardline conservative, criticized New Rightist perception of history.[21]Yuji Hosaka, an ethnically Japanese naturalized South Korean, accused New Right of being anew Chinilpa in support of Japanesefar-right. Hosaka accused South Korean New Right scholars of sympathizing withNippon Kaigi's view of history.[22] Lee Woo-yeon, co-author ofAnti-Japan Tribalism, was funded by aJapanese far-right groups, according to a report by theKyunghyang Shinmun.[23]
Chin Jung-kwon, a political commentator, said "Japanese far-right politics is 'sadistic' and South Korean far-right politics is 'masochistic'", and "the 'colonialist historical perspective' is a 'politicalsadomasochism' directed by Japanese and South Korean far-right assex partners".[24]
The New Right movement is often criticized for its worship ofauthoritarian politicians in addition to pro-Japanese historical revisionism. In particular, the number of dictatorsSyngman Rhee andPark Chung-hee statues, has been increasing by South Korean conservatives, including New Right activists, since 2009. This is contrary to the example of Taiwan, which has been reducing the number of dictatorChiang Kai-shek statues since the 2010s.[25]
One aspect of the New Right that has been highly notable is the recent production of historical studies by New Right-oriented academics which seek to opposetraditional Korean views of history. Some of these best-selling books argue against the overwhelmingly negative view ofImperial Japan and also dispute specific details about thecomfort women discussion. Some of these authors also suggest that Japan helped Korea to modernise, both politically and economically.[26]
Some well-known politicians from the "old right"GNP indicated commonality with the New Right groups, includingPark Geun-hye endorse theanti-North Korean New Right's version ofalternative Korean History textbooks through a foundation calledText Book Forum. TheLee Myung-bak government'sMinistry of Education, Science and Technology has tried to implant the next Korean New Right version of Korean history textbook for the public school usage.[27] The NR's groups' demanding pressure to use theirhawkish Korean history textbooks has eventually make them inconsistently incompatible with thedovish ethics textbooks.[28]
From allowing the Sado gold mine to be designated a World Heritage without mention of Korean slave labor to "new right" appointments, Yoon is proving that he's sympathetic to the Japanese right wing's stance that the colonization of Korea was legal
Since 2005, conservative New Right scholars andprogressive-nationalist historians have been engaged in a fierce debate over the writing of modern and contemporary Korean history in high school textbooks.
The president's main ally in pushing through the textbook revision has been the Saenuri party chairperson Kim Moo-sung, whose own father was a prominent businessman during the Japanese occupation and actively encouraged Korean youths to enlist in the Imperial Army to fight in the Pacific war. Kim has been struggling to whitewash his family's history and downplay his intimate connections to the nation's corporate and media elite, and thus has been a passionate leader in the New Right movement, the ideological network behind the right wing revisionism.
한홍구 성공회대 민주자료관장은 "뉴라이트는 정체성으로 유지됐던 것이 아니라 이권으로 뭉쳤다. 이념 운동이라면 이념의 전파자가 새로운 방향을 제시하고 지적인 긴장감을 가져야 하는데, 민주정권의 반동으로 일어선 그들의 철학과 지식은 빈곤했다"며 "이권이라는 깃발에 하이에나들이 모였던 것"이라고 꼬집었다.
특히 일부 뉴라이트 학자를 포함한 극우진영의 주장을 그대로 옮겨 1948년 8월15일을 '대한민국 정부 수립'이 아닌 '대한민국 수립'으로 고쳤다.
