'Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter'

By Jason Lim

This is the movie that came to mind when I first heard about the whole brouhaha surrounding the cancellation of "Joseon Exorcist," a K-drama that took extensive liberties with historical figures in the early decades of the 1392-1910 Joseon Kingdom. While I understand that King Sejong is one of the most revered figures in Korean history, Abraham Lincoln is probably not too far behind in the annals of American history. Yet, the movie about Abraham Lincoln hunting down and killing vampires was panned by the poor execution of the movie and not by the patently false premise. How is Sejong killing evil spirits more offensive to Koreans than Lincoln killing vampires? Yet, it was, and led to the cancellation of the series only after two airings.

What's even more confounding is that the Netflix drama series "Kingdom" basically told a similar story of a Joseon prince leading a fight against zombies in the midst of palace intrigue. And that one was a huge hit. So, what was it about "Joseon Exorcist" that triggered this reaction among the Korean public? Hint: historical memories, even inaccurate ones, run deep in Northeast Asia. One has to be careful not to step through its ever-shifting cracks.

This is all about China. The scene that caused the most issue was the one inside a Chinese-themed Joseon brothel that showed Chinese-style foods and clothing. It even led to SBS issuing a press release specifically addressing the issue: "In our series, the gisaengjip is located near the border of Ming China, so we thought a lot of Chinese people would visit the region. That's why we prepared the (Chinese) props. We did not have any other intention. We will be more careful in producing our work in the future."

Korean press calls the intrusion of Chinese capital and cultural artifacts in the K-pop industry a cultural version of the Northeast Project that began several years back. The Northeast Project of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences was seen by many in Korea as a thinly veiled attempt by the Chinese to justify a potential history grab from Goguryeo and Balhae and any attendant land and cultural claims under the guise of an academic research project. If the Northeast Project can academically ''prove" that Goguryeo and Balhae were really offshoots of the larger Chinese nation, then it stands to reason that the historical, cultural and territorial legacy of these two ancient nations belong to modern China, not Korea.

The Korea Times writes, "Driven by the temptation of the vast Chinese market, studios often have made too many concessions to curry favors with Chinese investors, letting scripts to be altered significantly. This, in turn, makes their products deviate considerably from the initially planned stories while overly emphasizing China's "charm offensive," a factor that distresses viewers and chases them away."

Two underlying dynamics drive this flare up. First, the increasingly strident Chinese expansionist nationalism raises concerns throughout Asia that China is going back to its imperialist roots and will try to go back to its hegemonic role. This is an especially sensitive matter to Korea that had been subjugated by its much bigger neighbor for most of its written history. In fact, the last 70 years of Pax Americana probably represent the time when Korea was most free from Chinese influence. A resurgent China may be good for the Korean economy but not without transcendental threat to its very existence. What happened in Tibet and is happening to the Uyghurs are cases in very sharp point.

Second, Korea is not without its version of a mythical past wrapped in splendor. While its nationalism maybe more insular rather than expansionist, there is a strong desire to paint Korea as a dominant regional player in Northeast Asian history. In fact, it's suspected that the Korean government cut off funding for the Northeast Asian History Foundation at the Harvard Korea Institute when its interim findings supported the placement of the four Commanderies of the Han Dynasty after the fall of Wiman Joseon within today's Korean Peninsula, instead of supporting the notion that in Ancient Korea under Dangun kings ruled over a wide swath of land in Manchuria and even China proper.

One may wonder how the locations of ancient fortresses or the clothing featured in a fantasy drama could possibly rile up modern public sentiments to this extent. However, in a region sliding more and more into respective nationalism, actively reshaping the historical narrative is necessarily a political act. Keep in mind that national identity is not carved in stone. It's a matter of indoctrination to a certain set of ethnic and cultural narratives shared by everyone else in a group. As such, it can be flexible and inclusive as the situation demands. In other words, there is no objective history per se. And narratives can be rewritten, which makes history a matter of now.

Jason Lim (jasonlim@msn.com) is a Washington, D.C.-based expert on innovation, leadership and organizational culture.