ИСТИНА

The liberation of Korea from Japanese colonialism launched decolonization that started under occupation regimes of the US and the USSR in South and North Korea respectively and proceeded during the history of the Republic of Korea and the DPRK. In the state ideologies, education systems and public discourses of both republics decolonization implied anticolonial approaches to the colonial regime, criticism of the colonial legacy and disregard of any contributions of the Japanese colonial governance to modernization of Korea. Unanimously shared anticolonial stance on the colonial past defined the collective memory of Koreans on both sides of the 38th parallel. The main point of divergence in anticolonial narratives of the ROK and the DPRK was an approach to the anti-Japanese resistance and a role of Kim Il-sung in the struggle for independence. If anticolonial narratives propagate sovereignty and independence as national values, postcolonial narratives expose issues of reinterpretation of colonial legacy. In North Korea, postcolonial narrative focuses on neo-colonial regimes and their consequences for the current world order. In South Korea, postcolonial narratives raise issues of compensation to victims of the Japanese colonial regime (victims of forced mobilization) and provoke debates on the essence of colonial regime.