미국 ‘제1세대 한국학자’의 해방 전후 한국 인식－조지 맥아피 맥큔의 Korea Today를 중심으로－ = The view of a ‘First Generation of Korean Scholar’ of America on Korea around Liberation－Through Korea Today by George McAfee McCune－

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This article examines George McAfee McCune’s view on Korea through his book Korea Today. After WWⅡ, McCune wanted to establish himself as a first-generation Korean scholar in American academia based on his academic expertise. Around war time, he put a lot of effort to make U.S. get interested in Korea. Although researches in the U.S. Area Studies had little interest in Korea, McCune tried to secure his own territory as a Korean scholar. He suggested to the Far Eastern Bureau in the State Department to open a new program for training experts in Korean issues, and lectured on Korean history, Far East diplomatic history, and Korean for three years before his death at his alma mater University of Berkeley. He also contributed many articles to the journal(FEQ, FES, and PA) on various topics related to Korea. Meanwhile, he published a book dealing with Treaty of Peace, Amity, Commerce and Navigation, United States-Korea Treaty of 1882. The publication of Korea Today was not only for as a historian, but also related with the interest of American institutional academia in Area Studies in the 1940s.
In Korea Today he analyzed the political and economic situations of Korea, which was divided after after liberation. Even though the structure of the book requires a symmetrical analysis of the South and the North, overall, the analysis of the situation is mainly about the South Korea and the policy of the U.S. military administration. It was McCune’s limitation as an “American intellectual” that the contents were disproportionate because resources from the Soviet Union and North Korea were inaccessible for him.
McCune argued that the economic exploitation of Japanese colonial rule on Korea was based on the assumption that the underdeveloped Korean politics was preventing economic development. According to McCune, however, if missionaries had lived in Korea long enough to analyze analyzed the divisiveness of Korean politics by linking it to the temperament of Koreans, it would be clear that it was not a lack of ability but a lack of experience. Regarding the political and economic system to be established on the Korea, he maintained his belief that ultimately, after the introduction of capitalism, the transition to industrialization and the establishment of American-style free democracy should be established, which shows the aspect of intellectuals from the America’s institutions. Meanwhile, McCune argued that unification would be essential for Koreans to be happy, reflecting his emotional sympathy for them.
Korea Today was published in the early 1950s when the U.S. academic interest in Korea was low, raising people's interest and filling the gap in Korean Studies. It also solidified its status as a “History book written by the Korean expert” in terms of the use and verification of historical materials. In addition, the publication of Korea Today suggests that the starting point of Korean studies in the U.S. will be moved from early 1950 to right after the end of the WWⅡ.
McCune’s view on Korea shows a multi-layered aspect of the thoughts of intellectuals in the American institutional academia and the emotional sympathy for Korea and Koreans. Judging from the fact that the unique features of McCune’s view on Korea derived from his experience in Korea when he was young, it is necessary to analyze comprehensively the views on Korea of other first-generation Korean scholars who have similar experiences with McCune is necessary. This article to look beyond the existing dichotomy between pro-Korean and anti-Korean, and to examine the various identities of characters like McCune.