A number of joint Korean archaeological excavations took place in and around the medieval town Kaesŏng, North Korea, between 2004 and 2010. The South Korean government politically and financially backed these activities as it views ‘social and cultural exchanges and cooperation as a buffer to prevent various crises from escalating into a complete severance in inter-Korean relations’ (Ministry of Unification 2005, 85). This paper aims to test the impact of cultural cooperation on rapprochement using data from questionnaires and interviews with South Korean archaeologists participating in joint Korean excavations, one in the free-trade zone, Kaesŏng Industrial Zone (KIZ) south-eastwards outside Kaesŏng’s ancient city walls, and further excavations at the Koryŏ period Manwŏltae palace site in Kaesŏng historical town. The archaeologists’ perceptions of their North Korean colleagues and recollections of the experienced are to give a valuable view on the realities of previously theorised use of cultural exchange for political rapprochement. The recollections reveal not only the positive outcomes of exchange, but also some of the inherent problems of joint Korean cultural cooperation, especially the issue of ideological distinction and felt superiority.

1. Unmasking the pig
Archaeologists’ recollections of joint Korean
excavations
Ruth Scheidhauer
University College London
Institute of Archaeology
AKSE Moscow, 17-20 June 2011

3. Kaesŏng joint excavations:
Contact theory in practice

4. • perceptions of the other as shaped by education,
socio-political background, and individual
memories, can be overcome and ‘positively’
changed through contact and engagement
Contact Theory: Cultural exchange and
engagement for political rapprochement

5. http://blog.chosun.com/portoman/665914
똘이장군 제 3 땅굴편 (1978)
Above the masked pig and his
unpleasant companions.
Below the defeated and unmasked pig
Ideological comics: The Pig Kim Il Sung

6. The aims of cultural exchange and
academic cooperation
• Both joint Korean excavation projects state
brotherly cooperation and unification as foremost
aims
• Are these ideals threatened by often unconscious
prejudices?

7. Contact Practice
• Avoiding confrontation (preps before departure)
• Cautious observations
• Focus on commonalities
• Building mutual trust

8. Between commonality and difference
• Pictures courtesy of Yu Pyŏnglin

9. ‘The most significant meaning of
the joint venture was the sign of
increased mutual trust.
Without much explanation the
South Korean excavation team
proposed to the North that they
‘have to do this [excavation]. We
need this.’ And the North Korean
side answered ‘Really? If you say
so, we believe it.’
Park Sung Jin, 2007
Mutual Trust
(Picture courtesy of MBC
Documentary Special 2007)

10. Koryŏ – Symbol for being One
Picture courtesy of MBC
Documentary Special 2007)
When saying ‘Koryŏ’, one of its
meanings is that North and
South Korea can be one. The
first proof of this point has been
the South and North Korean
culture exchange at Manwŏltae’ .
Park Jinho, 2007

11. Enjoying childhood
memories
© MBC Documentary Special, 2007

12. • ‘North Koreans are brainwashed’
• Totalitarian state
• Underdeveloped, unsophisticated, poor
Unmasking the Pig
Confirming stereotypes and prejudices

13. ‘As time goes by the stiff faces and the way of talking
became familiar as that of a neighbour. I could feel the
unifying force of our nation when drinking together with the
[surveying] attendants’.
‘The awkward feeling slowly grew into attachment and time
could be spent extremely pleasantly and conversantly’.
I had the chance to became very close with a person of the
same age (*1975) through the sweat, discussion and
worries shared during work’.
(Nam Ch’anggŭn,
22 November 2010).

14. Getting closer
working and
drinking

15. North Korean archaeologists wearing ‘Mao suit’ and ‘Penguin
hats’
Different Style

16. Sharing superior knowledge and technology
© MBC Documentary Special, 2007

17. Seoul Sinmun (2004.08.17) pictures
an iron bull excavated from a Koryŏ
period settlement site
Measuring and drawing together during
the first survey at a burial site
(LMK 2005)
Different archaeological practice

18. Different effects of the contact experience
‘I thought of myself to be a man with progressive
ideas, but the experience of working in North
Korea was a big shock and I can see changes in
myself to become a man with more conservative
ideas.’
(KIZ archaeologist Yu Pyŏnglin, 21 October 2010).

19. Politics and its effects on contact practice
• The real value of cultural cooperation: Reaching
beyond political and economical interests?
• Continuation of the excavation project despite
political tensions and border closure (what were
the real stakes?)
• ‘The relation between the archaeologists of the
North and South was not so nice and felt a little
uneasy during this excavation [from March to May
2010]’. (Park Sung Jin, 19 July 2010).

20. Concluding remarks
• Overcoming novelty and exoticism by repeated
encounters
• Rapprochement on a personal level
• Vulnerability of professionals to political
environment

21. Hailing the pig-
a matter of socialisation
© MBC Documentary Special, 2007
'Manwŏltae excavation inauguration
ritual pig, 2007.5.18’

22. Thank you! 감사합니다