The Triad of Colonialism, Anti-Communism, and Neo-Liberalism: Decolonizing Surveillance Studies in South Korea

his paper critically examines three intersectional hegemonic forces of maintaining a surveillance regime???the triad of colonialism, anti-communism, and neo-liberalism???that I argue are necessary for decolonizing surveillance studies in South Korea. I discuss South Korea???s Resident Registration System (RRS) as the contemporary incarnation of modern colonial power???s control over its colonial subjects, calling into question the maintenance of the colonial legacies within RRS policy innovations. I critically examine the way in which the legitimacy of neo-liberal surveillance is embraced by the anti-privacy scheme entrenched in the colonial and anti-communism legacies that relentlessly allows state power to control and intervene in individual realms. Questioning the triad of colonialism, anti-communism, and neo-liberalism can recast a critical work for decolonizing surveillance studies in South Korea

An Abuse of Culture: North Korean Settlers, Multiculturalism, and Liberal Democracy

This paper presents how the concept of multiculturalism, when applied to North Korean settlers in South Korea, falls short of a viable solution to the identity negotiation process these settlers continually undergo while living in South Korea. In the liberal national formulation of multiculturalism, North Korean values and lifestyles cannot be cherished, and these refugees cannot express or take pride in their culture. Instead, it is when they express their pain, sorrow, anger, and frustration about their experiences in North Korea and during their refugee life that they can be hailed as brave, autonomous, reliable, and responsible citizens. I argue that this is an abuse of culture that depoliticizes these refugees. North Koreans living in South Korea are often mobilized to witness the persistent cruelty of human rights abuses perpetrated by the North Korean regime, which has been considered a significant contribution to the strengthening of liberal democracies. But these refugees are rarely invited to provide critical commentary about the liberal democratic regime in which their subject formation as competent citizens is always questionable. To catch a glimpse of the insight into North Koreans as avant la lettre for unification of the nation, we Others to them should be better prepared to respond to the political implications that are made and carried through multiculturalism ventriloquizing the ideal liberal citizenship that they can never attain without a constant denial of the self.open

Surveillance and Anti-Communist Authoritarianism in South Korea

In this essay, I argue that anti-communist authoritarianism has still survived into the 21st century South Korean public sphere, having been intensified in the idea of jongbuk. Jongbuk combines jong (to follow) and buk (North Korea) ideologically labeling people who are presumed to blindly follow, or be willfully serve North Korea???s totalitarian regime. People who are labeled jongbuk, pro-North Korea followers, are not only stigmatized and marginalized socially, but they are also subject to legal sanctions in their civic participation under the National Security Law. Especially under Park Geun-hye, daughter of military dictator and former President Park Chung-hee (1961-1979), I present how jongbuk has served as continued politicized commitments to national security and public safety used to justify the illegitimate and indiscriminate online surveillance and censorship of civilians and artists, as well as Park???s political opponents, to safeguard her regime

Crimes against Community: The Therapeutic Politics of South Korea???s COVID-19 Public Health Surveillance

This essay argues that the success of South Korea???s COVID-19 responses???called ???K-Quarantine??????is symptomatic of the country???s liberal politics in crisis. The therapeutic politics of K-Quarantine is enacted by an amalgam of moral guilt and legal liabilities for damages to the community, framing the COVID-stricken public as potential criminals against community. In this political context characterized by potential guilt, the public feel culpable if they resist the overshadowing power of public security. This essay offers a critique of the public security rhetoric, examining the case of an LGBTQ South Korean charged on violations of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act amid the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020. A critical evaluation of invasive and punitive measures found in the case demonstrates that the K-Quarantine strategy contradicts its own underlying liberal ideal of the autonomous subject because its public health deliberation reproduces a guilt mandate by constructing a perpetrator/victim binary

Electroacupuncture Attenuates Ovalbumin-Induced Allergic Asthma via Modulating CD4+CD25+ Regulatory T Cells

A mouse pulmonary hypersensitivity experimental model that mimics human asthma was developed, and electroacupuncture (EA) treatment was shown to reduce allergic inflammatory processes. In addition, we also assessed whether the beneficial effects of EA on allergic asthma could be correlated with CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (Treg). Cellular profiles and histopathologic analysis demonstrated that peribronchial and perivascular inflammatory cell infiltrates were significantly decreased in the EA-treated groups when compared to the OVA and anti-CD25 Ab-injected (Treg depletion) groups. Furthermore, total BAL cells were reduced in the EA groups when compared to other groups. Interestingly, the population of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+Tregs in pneumonocytes increased in EA-treated group when compared to OVA and Treg depletion groups. These results imply that EA stimulation at ST 36 may affect CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ Treg in an OVA-induced experimental model and may enhance Treg function by suppressing other T cells and limiting the immune response

Subthreshold electrical stimulation as a low power electrical treatment for stroke rehabilitation

As a promising future treatment for stroke rehabilitation, researchers have developed direct brain stimulation to manipulate the neural excitability. However, there has been less interest in energy consumption and unexpected side effect caused by electrical stimulation to bring functional recovery for stroke rehabilitation. In this study, we propose an engineering approach with subthreshold electrical stimulation (STES) to bring functional recovery. Here, we show a low level of electrical stimulation boosted causal excitation in connected neurons and strengthened the synaptic weight in a simulation study. We found that STES with motor training enhanced functional recovery after stroke in vivo. STES was shown to induce neural reconstruction, indicated by higher neurite expression in the stimulated regions and correlated changes in behavioral performance and neural spike firing pattern during the rehabilitation process. This will reduce the energy consumption of implantable devices and the side effects caused by stimulating unwanted brain regions. © 2021, The Author(s).1