Terao Gorō au nord du 38e parallèle : une analyse de ses récits de voyage en Corée du Nord

Abstract

At the end of the Second World War, Koreans constituted the largest foreign community in Japan. Having arrived during the colonisation of Korea (1910-1945), many were subjected to widespread discrimination and lived precariously or even in abject poverty. Beginning in the late 1950s, when they were welcomed by North Korean leaders and guaranteed decent living conditions, repatriation to North Korea gave many of these individuals hope for a better future. Between 1959 and 1984, more than 93,000 people – including 2,000 Japanese women married to Koreans – arrived at the 38th Parallel North. Before and during the repatriation programme, Terao Gorō (1921-1999), an intellectual affiliated with the Japanese Communist Party, visited North Korea and published an account of his travels back in Japan.

Keywords

• Repatriation
• North Korea
• Terao Gorō
• Intellectual
• Communism
• East Germany