Diasporic Elements in the Post-liberation Works of Yom Sang-seop

The post-liberation era of Korea witnessed a state of confusion and turmoil. The neo-colonial powers and advent of the Cold War led to a partition of the peninsular. By the time Korea earned its independence a considerable number of Koreans were living in Manchuria and other parts of the world, forming the Korean diaspora, and independence led many of these to “re­turn” home. Yom Sang-seop wrote extensively about the theme of this “re­turn” in his post-liberation novels. However, there is barely any research that has explored the diasporic elements in this author’s novels. His post-liber­ation works focused on the partition of the country, the ideological divide among the common people, and their plight as refugees. In his works Yom Sang-seop wrote about the life of Korean people living in Manchuria and their journey back to the Korean peninsula after liberation. His works after the liberation and before the outbreak of the Korean war show a common tendency of diaspora literature, where the central themes are the refugee cri­sis, ideological divide, displacement, and problems related to housing in the newly established countries of North and South Korea. The paper will focus on his novels and short stories, and discuss the diasporic aspects in his works.

This contribution is a translation of an article originally published in the journal Asian Studies (Volume XIII, Supplement, 2025).