A Comparison of Modern and Contemporary Uses of ‘MINDO’ in Korea and Japan : Focusing on Newspaper Data

This paper examines the historical evolution and usage of the concept of ‘Mindo’, focusing on the cases of Asahi Shimbun in Japan and Chosun Ilbo in Korea. The word ‘Mindo’ was coined in modern Japan and was used as an indicator of a people's standard of living and degree of civilization. However, in recent years, it has also been used in a critical or discriminatory context. This paper analyses the themes and changes in the use of the term through newspaper databases and examines its social context. As a result, in modern times, ‘Mindo’ was used as a tool to emphasise the legitimacy of Japanese rule in colonies like Korea and Taiwan, and to explain the need to civilize the economically backward, or low ‘Mindo’ of these regions. Korean newspapers tended to follow suit. After 1945, with the defeat of Japan, the use of ‘Mindo’ became less frequent, but it continues to be used in present-day Korea and Japan. In the contemporary era, ‘Mindo’ is used in contexts discussing civic values or socio-cultural level, and it has been mainly addressed in discussions related to the level of consciousness of the people. This study uses modern and contemporary newspaper data to comprehensively examine how ‘Mindo’ has changed over time and social context in Korea and Japan. In modern times, it has been used as an indicator of people's living standards, as a tool of discourse related to colonial rule, and in contemporary times, as a critical and discriminatory term on the internet, as well as in discussions related to people's level of consciousness. Analyzing the expansion and transformation of ‘Mindo’ is a challenge for future research.