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Dokdo Is Our Land

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"Dokdo Is Our Land"
Song by Jeong Kwang-tae [ko]
from the album Funny Songs and Unfunny Songs
LanguageKorean
ReleasedJune 20, 1982 (1982-06-20)
GenrePop
LabelDaesung Records
Songwriter(s)Park Moon-young

"Dokdo Is Our Land" (Korean: 독도는 우리땅) is a 1982 pop song written by South Korean musician Park Moon-young and sung by comedian Jeong Kwang-tae [ko] about the Liancourt Rocks dispute.[1]: 23  The song has grown to become highly recognizable in South Korea as a point of anti-Japanese nationalism.[2]

History

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"Dokdo Is Our Land" debuted on the KBS comedy program Humor Number One and was written by production directors Kim Woong-rae and Park Moon-young. On the program, it was performed by comedians Im Ha-ryong, Jang Doo-seok [ko], Kim Jeong-sik [ko], and Jeong Kwang-tae [ko] and was intended to be a one time performance.[3] Following the broadcast, Daesung Records offered to record the song, but scheduling conflicts led to Jeong being the only one available for the recording.[3] The song was released as part of the compilation album Funny Songs and Unfunny Songs (Korean: 웃기는 노래와 웃기지 않는 노래) on June 20, 1982.[3]

Jeong Kwang-tae would receive the New Artist Award at the 1983 KBS Music Awards for his performance.[3] The song would later be briefly banned between July and November 1983 by military dictator Chun Doo-hwan out of fear of worsening relations with Japan during Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone's visit to Korea amid the 1982 Japanese history textbook controversies.[4][5]: 193 

Re-release and remixes

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Since its release, "Dokdo Is Our Land" has been remade and re-released several times by various artists. Following the popularity of the song, the original album would be re-released in the next year under the name Dokdo Is Our Land. The song was remade most recently in 2012 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the song's release.[6]

On June 5, 1985, "Dokdo Is Our Land" would be released as part of Jeong Gwang-tae's second album Jeong Gwang-tae Golden (Korean: 정광태 골든).[7] In 1996, South Korean hip-hop group DJ DOC re-recorded the song and released it in their album "Long Live Korea" (Korean: 대한민국 만세).[8]

Lyrics

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The disputed Liancourt Rocks

The lyrics of the song reference various climatic and geographical details of Dokdo, as well as historical documents justifying South Korea's claim over the islands.[2]

Legacy

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The song has become highly recognizable among South Koreans as a point of national pride and anti-colonial sentiment, and is commonly used as a children's song.[2][9][10] In 1989, Jeong Kwang-tae would be denied entry into Japan over the song.[6] The South Korean national baseball team reportedly completed pregame workouts to the song along with other traditional Korean songs during the 2006 World Baseball Classic.[11]

The song is also commonly used in flash mobs within South Korea as a means of promoting South Korea's claim over the islands.[2][12]: 104 

The song's melody is commonly used by South Korean students as a study tool to help memorize information.[9] In the 2019 film Parasite, an altered version of the song was sung by Choi Woo-shik and Park So-dam as a mnemonic device and would go viral as an internet meme known as the "Jessica Jingle."[9][6] Neon, the film's production company, would release the jingle to fans as a ringtone.[13][14]

During the 2020 South Korean legislative elections, altered versions of the song were adopted as campaign songs by Hwang Kyo-ahn of the United Future Party and by Song Young-gil of the Democratic Party.[15][16]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Emmers, Ralf (2013). Resource Management and Contested Territories in East Asia. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK. doi:10.1057/9781137310149. ISBN 978-1-349-45654-3.
  2. ^ a b c d Palmer, Brandon; Whitefleet-Smith, Laura (March 1, 2016). "Assimilating Dokdo: The Islets in Korean Everyday Life". ASIANetwork Exchange: A Journal for Asian Studies in the Liberal Arts. 23 (1): 9. doi:10.16995/ane.111. ISSN 1943-9946.
  3. ^ a b c d 오, 광수 (August 16, 2021). "독도는 우리 땅" [Dokdo is Our Land]. Kyunghyang Shinmun. Retrieved March 1, 2023.
  4. ^ Choi, Sung-jae (2005). "The Politics of the Dokdo Issue". Journal of East Asian Studies. 5 (3): 465–494. doi:10.1017/S1598240800002071. ISSN 1598-2408. S2CID 147299670.
  5. ^ Porteux, Jonson N. (2015). "Post-colonial South Korean nationalism". In Kingston, Jeff (ed.). Asian Nationalisms Reconsidered. Routledge. pp. 186–195. doi:10.4324/9781315739601-25. ISBN 9781317577317.
  6. ^ a b c 이, 춘호 (May 18, 2012). "'독도는 우리땅' 의 정광태" [Jeong Gwang-tae from 'Dokdo is Our Land']. Yeongnam Ilbo. Retrieved March 1, 2023.
  7. ^ "김치 주제가, 짜라빠빠, 힘내라 힘, 코끼리 아저씨 모두 정광태 노래??". YTN. April 24, 2020. Retrieved March 1, 2023.
  8. ^ "On-line Music Market Heats Up with "Dokdo Love"". KBS World. March 9, 2005.
  9. ^ a b c "Doorbell song, chapaguri from 'Parasite' become talk of town". Yonhap News Agency. February 11, 2020. Retrieved March 1, 2023.
  10. ^ Lee, Ji-Young; Lee, Jaehyun (May 9, 2019). "Everyday Politics of "Dokdo" and South Korean National Identity: An Analysis of Education, Media, and Civil Society". The Korean Journal of International and Comparative Law. 7 (1): 67–87. doi:10.1163/22134484-12340117. ISSN 2213-4484. S2CID 191868321.
  11. ^ Lee, Jerry W. (2012). "Commodifying Colonial Histories: Korea Versus Japan and the Re/Productions of Colonial Violence in the World Baseball Classic". Journal of Sport and Social Issues. 36 (3): 231–244. doi:10.1177/0193723512443245. ISSN 0193-7235. S2CID 145636963.
  12. ^ Dudden, Alexis (2015). "Korea's and Japan's rocky standoff: Something more?". In Kingston, Jeff (ed.). Asian Nationalisms Reconsidered. Routledge. pp. 103–115. doi:10.4324/9781315739601-18. ISBN 9781317577317.
  13. ^ Miller, Shannon (November 8, 2019). "'Ding-dong': Jessica's doorbell jingle from Parasite hits the internet". The A.V. Club. Retrieved March 1, 2023.
  14. ^ Yoon, Jeong Oh (2021). "The Transcultural Logic of Capital: The House and Stairs in Parasite". In Kim, Youna (ed.). The Soft Power of the Korean Wave: Parasite, BTS and Drama. Routledge. pp. 67–78. doi:10.4324/9781003102489-5. ISBN 9781003102489. S2CID 237754415.
  15. ^ 이, 지은 (March 25, 2020). "미래통합당, 황교안이 직접 부른 '독도는 우리땅' 노래로 선거운동". Asia Business Daily (in Korean). Retrieved March 5, 2023.
  16. ^ 송, 길호. "민주당 송영길 계양구을 후보, 선거 로고송 시리즈 눈길". Kyeonggi Daily (in Korean). Retrieved March 5, 2023.
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