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The Problems of the Refugee and the North Korean defector: Based on Agamben and Levinas’ theory

  • The Korean Journal of Chiristian Social Ethics
  • Abbr : 기사윤
  • 2016, (34), pp.103-138
  • DOI : 10.21050/CSE.34.04
  • Publisher : The Society Of Korean Christian Social Ethics
  • Research Area : Humanities > Christian Theology

Jong won, Lee 1

1계명대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This research surveys the problem of the North Korean defector through the concept ‘Homo Sacer’ of Agamben, and seeks the solution of this issue based on ‘the ethics of the Other of Levinas’. To that end, I inspected the realistic violation of human rights that the North Korean defectors have experienced in other territories, in particular, in China. A refugee is considered to be rooted out people who have lost their base of life. They must depart from their base of life. This means they must separate from the entirety of their relations. The most urgent issue is that North Korean defectors are considered as refugees legally to protect the defectors’ human rights and to guarantee their legal positions. According to Agamben, Homo Sacer is a bare life exposed to the absolute possibility of homicide, that is the object transcending the jurisdiction of both the law and the sacrifice ritual. A bare life is a life that has lost all positive relations, therefore it is considered a worthless life. In Levinas, the encounter with the face of the other reveals the ethical responsibility toward others. The face of the other is the trace of infinity. It means that the word of God could be heard by us from beyond our understanding and even our existence. To save the face of the other with diversity and vulnerability gives us new insight from the viewpoint of Christian ethics. Through the ethics of the other, when we examine the problems of North Korean defector, we find the possibility of coexistence and cooperation. The most desirable community is not a closed society, exposing those who are different to violence and death, but an open society coexisting and enjoying their differences peacefully and happily.

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