As the famous saying goes, when spoken and written word are lost the country is lost, and when spoken and written word are gained the country is restored. In the same way, the country is divided if the language grows different, and if the language is unified so is the nation. Scholars from North and South Korea are going to produce a dictionary of the Korean language together, and the news could not be any more welcome. There has been much work towards reunification, but it is really satisfying to see a project that really is about overcoming the Division. People have long said that the language has to be reunified for the nation to be one again, but North and South have waited 60 long years for this.
The joint lexicographical committee says the official date of publication is December 2009. They say that given the laborious nature of the work involved it could take two or three years more than that, so it seems it will be 2010 before there is a unified Korean
dictionary. It has been a long succession of political and military confrontation and conflict, but if North and South had been more open minded and wise about matters earlier on, the Korean nation would have started the 21st century as an era of reunified spoken and written Korean, at least within its dictionaries. It is sad that did not happen, but it is fortunate that the work has at least started now.
"The difference between the spoken and written word in North and South is merely dialectal," says Hong Yun Pyo, the South's member of the committee, and what he says is profound. The actual difference is about as much as the difference between Korean in the Gyeongsang and Jeolla regions, because the language the Korean nation has used all this time is deep-rooted. Language is the most important element in tying a people together as one, so if the gap is the difference between dialects, perhaps reunification might not be that difficult and complicated. Hong also said they would not "go about unconditional reunification of the differences." Instead they will "work with what we have in common, talk out and debate what we differ on, and leave what we are unable to agree on to future generations." That, too, is something to think about in relation to reunification.
It would be worth noting how scholars from North and South have worked their way through a situation that has remained closed since the controversy over the condolence delegation to the 10th anniversary of Kim Il Sung's death and commenced on this most precious project despite the situation. It is all the more reason why intra-Korean issues not related to "language reunification" must not be allowed to hinder the effort. "Language reunification" is the surest stepping stone to being one people again.
The Hankyoreh, 26 February 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] Reunifying the Korean Language |
