Durham: Duke University Press, 2022. xviii, 201 pp. (Tables, maps, B&W photos.) US$26.00, paper; US$26.00, ebook. ISBN 9781478018353.
Seventy years ago, on July 27, 1953, a momentous armistice agreement was signed in a wooden meeting house at the geographical center of the Korean Peninsula. This longest enduring armistice is remarkable among modern armistices, with neither a resumption of war nor the conclusion of a peace treaty following over the ensuing seven decades. According to the literature on the durability of cease-fires, the establishment of the demilitarized zone (DMZ) is one of factors that deters the resumption of war. The seventy-year-old Korean DMZ has been evaluated differently with regards to military peace, national division, and ecological conservation. Among several studies published just before the seventieth anniversary of the Korean armistice, Eleana Kim’s book takes center stage, offering a unique perspective based on her own field observations and culturalistic concepts. With its examination of the future sustainability of the Korean DMZ area presented in English, the book has the potential to captivate not only local readers but also a global audience.
In its first chapter, the book delves into the profound aspect of division. Following the establishment of separate governments in North and South Korea, the Korean War erupted in 1950, rendering peaceful unification unattainable for the next seven decades. This division had far-reaching consequences, affecting not only the state of peace but also the relationship between humans and nature on the Korean Peninsula. Although the peninsula suffered severe ecological devastation during the war, the long-standing division based on an armistice had the unintended consequence of facilitating the restoration of ecological nature.
Kim’s book explores three key ecological encounters within the Korean border, each scrutinizing the Korean border area from a distinct perspective. Through an exploration of water (ponds, chapter 2), sky (birds, chapter 3), and ground (landmines, chapter 4), the author illustrates how elements of nature, such as premodern irrigation ponds (27) and bird habitats (28), are protected by inter-Korean confrontation and division. The author compellingly argues that biological peace is a necessary framework for appreciating the impure, polluted, and endangered life that exists in the DMZ area (29).
Peace, inherently, may or may not be compatible with nature. For instance, the concept of ecological security displays three causal relationships between peace and nature (Chae-Han Kim and Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, “Ecological Security and the Promotion of Peace: A DMZ Eco-Peace Park,” Korean Journal of Defense Analysis, 27, no. 4 [2015]). By expanding upon these relationships, the book’s notion of “making peace with nature” provokes thoughtful refection on the multifaceted dynamics between peace and nature.
The study also incorporates various culturalistic terms, offering a unique lens through which to examine the Korean DMZ. As culturalistic terms are used in the book, different terminology from other fields is also employed. For instance, chapter 2 refers to several policy propaganda intitiatives pertaining to the Korean DMZ in the twenty-first century as “peace offensives” (68). Most researchers on the Korean War associate the term “peace offensive” with disguised peace propaganda for a surprise attack, such as North Korea’s proposal of a pan-Korean meeting for peaceful unification just eighteen days before its surprise attack on South Korea in June 1950. It is intriguing to consider whether the Lee Myung-bak administration’s proposal for a “Green Detente,” as well as the Park Geun-hye administration’s proposal for the DMZ Eco-Peace Park, might be rather more aptly labeled as “nature offensives.”
In chapter 4, the author explores the argument that landmines are still regarded as the most effective deterrent and crucial for maintaining peace between the two Koreas (127). In the realm of military strategy, the term “deterrence” is distinguished from the term “defense.” A nation’s defense may be carried out only after the nation is under attack, whereas deterrence can also work before any attack. Nations can be deterred from attacking their enemy when such an attack is expected to be stopped or retaliated against. In the era of nuclear weapons, the notion of deterrence includes the case where one party prevents any attack by their opponent with the threat of mutual destruction through counter-attack, even if it cannot ultimately beat the opponent. By this conceptualization, landmines are not an offensive weapon but a defensive weapon. Of course, the effect of defensive and deterrence weapons on the potential for attack is a complex issue, not a black-and-white one. As the author argues, landmines protect nature from human development, but they also have multiple and heterogeneous effects (28).
Kim’s book offers a rich exploration of the Korean DMZ area, weaving together culturalistic notions through captivating storytelling. With its unique perspective on the ontological turn, multispecies ethnography, and the transition from one world to many, from worlds to worldings, and from a singular Nature to multi-naturalism (20), the book not only resonates with adopted, adapted, and semi-closed territories, but also provides valuable insights into the lives of multicultural families in the local Civilian Control Zone (CCZ).
Finally, the book primarily focuses on South Korea’s western CCZ, rather than the DMZ per se, which strictly limits human access. However, the CCZ may be considered part of the DMZ area in that here civilian access is restricted and the military has priority. While the contents of the book can be broadly extended to the country’s eastern CCZ, the book’s scope does not encompass the northern part of the Korean DMZ, leaving room for further exploration in future works.
In conclusion, Eleana Kim’s book stands as a thought-provoking contribution to our understanding of the Korean DMZ. By blending culturalistic concepts with meticulous field observations, Kim invites readers to contemplate the intricate connections between division, peace, and nature. Through this work, she presents a compelling case for the future sustainability of the Korean DMZ area and leaves an indelible mark on the discourse surrounding this historic landmark.
Chae-han Kim
Hallym University, Chuncheon