Abstract

The present article examines the historical (or cultural) memory of August 15 in South Korea. As a memorial day, August 15 incorporates the double meaning of liberation from colonial rule in 1945 and the formal promulgation of the South Korean state in 1948. While existing studies have shed light on how disputes over August 15 unfolded after the emergence of the New Right in the mid-2000s, this article analyzes the commemoration of August 15 since its institutionalization as a memorial day in 1949, and traces the origins of conservative challenges to its inscribed memory. The article dissects how the cultural memory of August 15 gradually evolved from an independence day in the 1950s towards a de facto liberation day since the 1960s. Only on round anniversaries is 1948 commemorated as well. The article traces concentrated conservative dissent with prevailing cultural memory to 1998, and shows how this was closely tied to Cold War triumphalist re-evaluations of Syngman Rhee. New Right contestations evolved out of this, and succeeded in state-led 1948-centered August 15 commemorations in 2008. This success was shortlived, and August 15 has since become sharply polarized in politics. Opinion polls suggest that South Koreans mostly reject the 1948-centric narrative.