박정희 동상과 기억의 정치-산업화 서사, 지방 권력, 지역 정체성의 교차점-

초록

As of 2025, a total of twelve statues of Park Chung-hee have been erected across South Korea, with a notable surge in commemorative projects and statue construction since the 2000s. This trend emerged within a distinct political and social context: the memory of economic growth during Park’s regime was reactivated in the wake of the IMF financial crisis, accompanied by the notion of “Park Chung-hee’s leadership,” the New Right’s theoretical justification through the “industrialization narrative,” and the political rise and presidential election of his daughter, Park Geun-hye. Following the inauguration of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration in 2022, the construction of Park Chung-hee statues has once again accelerated. This resurgence reflects increasingly overt political intentions, such as leveraging regional nostalgia for Park to build political capital or using commemorative projects as a stepping stone for political advancement. The statues of Park Chung-hee emphasize the narrative of industrial achievements and national development, while deliberately excluding, minimizing, or erasing memories of the Yushin regime’s repression, the democratization movement, and victims of state violence. Moreover, the repeated commemorative efforts led by local governments have contributed to reshaping the regional identity of Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province within a narrow framework of “conservatism” and “industrialization,” marginalizing alternative memories and narratives. Just as the memory of Park Chung-hee and his regime has been recalled through the lens of economic growth and industrialization, a shift in public discourse away from prioritizing economic development could lead to a relatively swift social consensus on the removal of his statues.

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