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Paradox of the Other: Focusing on North Korean Defector Novels

Abstract: The discourse about ‘the other’ focuses on the relationship between the subject and the other. More specifically, it mainly discusses the relationship from the subject’s point of view and ignores that of the other. Therefore, there isn’t enough discourse about how the other sees themselves or even another other. Baridaegi (바리데기) and Empire of Light (빛의 제국), however, show the paradox of the other through the very Korean other: North Korean defectors. In these novels, the other plays a role for the subject to overcome the limitations of being the subject. However, at the same time, the other is an ambivalent and contradictory one who is dissociated and lacking. Both of these others could be dangerous; the transcendental other who has ultimate motherhood (Baridaegi), and the cynical other who rationalizes his position as a scapegoat under oppressive laws (Empire of Light). This is because it could be possible to face up to the other as the other itself, only if we accept the blame that the more the maximization of the other’s positivity is, the stronger the other’s fantasy of itself is.