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First Lady's Role in Authoritarian Nostalgia: South Korea's Yook Young-soo
Sat, September 7, 8:00 to 9:30am, Marriott Philadelphia Downtown, Salon DAbstract
What is the role of the first lady in cultivating authoritarian nostalgia which idealizes hypermasculine form of political leadership? In this paper, I conducted an analysis of the discursive construction of Park Chung-hee nostalgia (hereafter, PCH nostalgia) through a qualitative content analysis of Geunhwa-bo. This monthly magazine was published by the President Park Chung-hee and First Lady Yook Young-soo Memorial Foundation between July 1989 and December 1990. Park Geun-hye, the former president of South Korea and the first daughter of Park and Yook, served as the magazine's publisher and editor. My analysis focused on how the magazine represented the legacy of Yook Young-soo (the first lady) to create and revive PCH nostalgia.
Yook played a significant role in generating and amplifying PCH nostalgia, embodying an idealized form of traditional femininity that complemented the hypermasculinity represented by Park Chung-hee. Revered as a graceful and benevolent national mother figure, her image effectively softened the harsh and austere portrayal of the dictator Park Chung-hee. Park Geun-hye sought to capitalize on both her father’s political legacy and her mother’s imagery, strategically maintaining the same hairstyle her mother had throughout Park’s political life. Geunhwa-bo dedicates a substantial portion to describing Yook Young-soo, providing invaluable data for analyzing not only Park Chung-hee but also Yook Young-soo’s images. This reflects what the followers of the Park family considered to be an idealized form of femininity. Despite Yook’s critical symbolic role in PCH nostalgia, existing studies merely mention her tangentially in relation to PCH nostalgia. This study contributes to the body of knowledge about South Korean first ladies by exploring Yook’s powerful role in PCH nostalgia and how it was strategically deployed by her daughter.