The joint security area in the nacionalist cinema of South Korea

Abstract

The Korean War (1950-1953) resulted in the creation of a border that separated the Korean peninsula into two parts: North and South. The northern side backed by communist ideology, while the southern side by the capitalist. After the conclusion of the civil war, a state of tension emerged in the border area, which dominated the relationship for several decades. Precisely, the Joint Security Area film (Park Chan Wook, 2000) presents this confrontation through the friendship of four soldiers, two from the South and two from the North. Circumstantially, they build a friendship that is truncated by the ideological hatreds that frame their respective countries. The intermediation of the United Nations Organization depicted by an official with Korean roots, draws more ideological conflict, because she discovers the truth of the event that was about to cause a war between the Koreas, but at the same time, reveals the ideological rivalry that persists in the peninsula. Director Park emphasizes that obstacles to unification persist. However, with the final scenes, where he shows the friends smiling, the filmmaker ponders the hope of a change in the relationship of the two Koreas.