ABSTRACT

This article explores the cinematic potential of representing a silenced history of Korean residents in Japan who were repatriated to their “homeland” (North Korea) by examining Yang Yonghi’s films, Dear Pyongyang (2006), Sona, the Other Myself (2009) and Our Homeland (2012). About 94,000 Koreans in Japan were repatriated to North Korea between 1959 and 1984, but stories of these individuals after their repatriation are largely unknown due to the tightly controlled information about their lives in North Korea and the complex geopolitical relations among South Korea, North Korea and Japan. The repatriates and their families’ experience of separation and multiple displacements is a historical disaster borne of Japanese colonialism and the Cold War. Yang’s autobiographical films visualise the silenced suffering of repatriates in a poignant handling of space, objects and sound that articulates their affective reaction to their homeland. Yang’s works thus make two important contributions to our understanding of the historical disaster: they highlight the ambiguity of the homeland for the repatriates while functioning as a cinematic testimony to the silenced suffering of the repatriates and their families.

摘要

本文通过考察杨永熙的电影《亲爱的平壤》 （2006 年）、 《娑娜》 、《另一个我自己》（2009 年）和《我们家园（2012）。1959 年至 1984 年间，约有 94,000 名在日本的朝鲜人被遣返回朝鲜，但由于有关他们在朝鲜生活的信息受到严格控制，以及韩国、朝鲜和日本。遣返者及其家属的离散和多次流离失所的经历，是日本殖民主义和冷战时期的历史灾难。杨的自传电影形象化了被遣返者在对空间、物体和声音的辛酸处理中沉默的痛苦，表达了他们对祖国的情感反应。因此，杨的作品对我们理解历史灾难做出了两个重要贡献：