New Naming for Old Nation: Understanding ��Baedal�� in Narrating Korean Modern Identity

This study explores the original terminology and meaning of Baedal in the early 20th century: the dawn of Korean nationalism and identity. Baedal first appeared in the script of the Korean native religion, Daejongism. Established in 1908, it swiftly became a symbolic prefix of a word to represent Koreanness within and even outside the religion within this context of co-relations between Baedal and Daejongism. This research shows that the idiom played a critical role in forming modern Korean national identity by codifying Koreans�� mythical narratives regarding a founding father, Dangun, and his epoch. The term spread because of the great efforts of the then Korean nationalists, gaining its historicity in the myth; although there might have been exaggeration and embellishments.
Standing for the Bright Land, Baedal was located deeply in the heart of the then Koreans oppressed by Imperial Japan, serving as a set of identity components: a new name for binding a population based on ethnic homogeneity, dignity as the chosen people, nostalgia over the golden age, and virtues for what the Korean nation must be after independence.