South Korea

The Transformation of Citizenship and the State-Nation Nexus

Bibliographic Data

ID3986118
AuthorsChulwoo Lee (0000-0002-3837-7992, Yonsei University, corresponding author)
Year2010
Volume40
Issue2
Pages230-251
Publication date2010-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Contemporary Asia (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-2336 • E-ISSN: 1752-7554
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00472331003597562
OpenAlexW2097279709
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited29

The phrase “decoupling of nation and state” has increasing currency in discussions of the transformation of citizenship and the state-people connection in this age of global migration. This study questions the soundness of characterising the current transformation in those terms. Asserting that the nexus between state and nation is being renegotiated and readjusted rather than disconnected or attenuated, the study highlights the multifaceted and multi-dimensional character of the state-nation nexus by introducing the case of the Republic of Korea. In so doing, the study inquires into, and throws light upon: (i) Korea's (re)definition of the boundaries of citizenship in coping with its existence as a divided nation and the challenges posed by an expanded influx of North Koreans; (ii) the country's evolving policy of diaspora engagement and vision of transnational nationhood; and (iii) the unity and opposition between territory and people as demonstrated by contestations surrounding the political participation of non-resident citizens and non-citizen residents. By analysing the experience of this particular nation-state, this study seeks to contribute to a nuanced understanding of the multiple realities that make up global transformation and the transnational dynamics that reshape the national order of things. Key Words: Nation-statediasporatransnationalismethnizenshipdenizenshipexternal votingKorean citizenship Acknowledgement The author is grateful to Philip Se-Hun Chang, Hans Schattle, Joongi Kim, Chaihark Hahm, and Sangmee Bak for helpful comments. I also thank two anonymous referees for their insightful recommendations and the discussants at the Symposium on Globalization of South Korea, December 2008, organised jointly by the Graduate School of Governance, Sungkyunkwan University, and Journal of Contemporary Asia, where the original version of this paper was presented. Notes 1 Art. 9 of the Act; Art. 16, Enforcement Decree of the Act. For English translations of Korean laws and legal terms, I resorted to the semi-governmental website http://elaw.klri.re.kr, which does not necessarily give the best translation. 2 Information supplied to the author by the Korea Immigration Service, Ministry of Justice, 27 March 2009. 3 Seoul High Court, 6 December 1995, 94ku16009; Supreme Court, 12 November 1996, 96nu1221. The full texts of the decisions are available at the Supreme Court website, http://glaw.scourt.go.kr/jbsonw/jbson.do. 4 North Korean legal commentators define pre-Republic Chos[obreve]n nationality in the same way (Yi, Citation2009). 5 Negotiation with Japan came to fruition in 1991 when Japan devised a special permanent residency for the Korean and Taiwanese minorities (Ch[obreve]ng, Citation1996: ch. 2). 6 Although many who remain Chos[obreve]n nationals feel attached to North Korea and despite North Korea's assertion that they are its citizens, their status under North Korean law is precarious (Ryang, Citation1997). 7 While literature and oral history hint that many Koreans in Manchuria acquired Chinese citizenship during the Chinese Civil War and in the course of land reform under communism, individuals find it difficult to determine when they became Chinese citizens. Further, many of those who became Chinese citizens also possessed North Korean citizenship until around 1957 (J. Lee, Citation1999: ch. 3). 8 Bill for the Basic Act on Overseas Koreans, No. 150821, introduced 5 November 1997. The texts of all legislative bills and their explanatory memoranda can be downloaded from the National Assembly website, http://www.assembly.go.kr. 9 The original draft also stipulated the issuance of “overseas Korean registration cards” to kin-foreigners living abroad and their general access to civil service jobs. The draft was revised to issue identification cards only to those domiciled in Korea and the idea of opening up civil service jobs to kin-foreigners was jettisoned. 10 Art. 2, Act on the Immigration and Legal Status of Overseas Koreans; Art. 3, Enforcement Decree for the Act 11 It is often misunderstood that the Korean-Chinese and Koreans in the former Soviet Union were excluded because they had never been Korean citizens (e.g. Park and Chang, Citation2005: 4). 12 Unlike a decision that a law is unconstitutional, a decision declaring a law unconformable to the Constitution does not set aside the law with immediate effect, but obliges the National Assembly to amend the law. The full texts of Constitutional Court decisions can be downloaded from http://www.ccourt.go.kr. 13 The Constitutional Court viewed the Korean-Chinese as having lost Korean citizenship. Against the petitioners' alternative claim that the Korean government should make a special procedure or make a treaty with China for them to choose between Korean and Chinese citizenship, the court ruled that the Korean government had no such duty. The petitioners also disputed the constitutionality of the MOJ guideline that the Korean-Chinese were to be treated as having lost Korean citizenship on 1 October 1949. The court held that the constitutionality of an intra-ministry guideline was not justiciable. 14 Corporate executives, journalists, professors, lawyers, certified accountants, permanent residents of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, doctoral degree holders and key members of diaspora organisations are among the people qualified to apply for an F-4 visa. 15 In a survey conducted in 2003, only 30.2% of respondents supported the idea of giving non-resident citizens the right to vote (Park and Chang, Citation2005: 15). 16 These impressions are based on the author's participation in public hearings and forums on these issues. 17 In fact, this was not the first occasion of alien voting; aliens were allowed to vote for the first time in the 2005 local referendum in Cheju Province. 18 I thank the leading campaigner Phil S. Yang (Yang P'ilsŭng), a professor of Chinese studies and proprietor of the enterprise Seoul Chinatown, for letting me join the campaign as a member and participant observer

Citizenship · Diaspora · Globalization · Nation state · Nexus (standard · Opposition (politics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Statelessness · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Gender Studies · Law · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy · Socioeconomic Development in Asia

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